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SOUVENIR OF A TOUR 

IN THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
AND CANADA. 

In the Autumn of 1872. 



Bv JOHN WATSON, 

OF NIELSLANU. 



"A c/u't'/'s amang you takiiC notes." — Burns. 



GLASGOW : 
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 

CHRISTMAS 1 87 2. 









TRINTED nv SIIULEY AND HARKNESS, TIITSTI.K STREET, EDINBURGH. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



THE following Diary of a brief tour in America was written 
folely for the perufal of my own family. As fent home it was, 
to a great extent, a fimple chronicle of my own perfonal movements, 
with fuch notes, defcriptive of the places and fcenes I vifited durin^ 
my abfence, as I fancied would intereft my wife and children. It ir, 
at the fpecial defire of one or two friendly critics, who were afforded 
an opportunity of perufing the manufcript, that I now print it for 
private circulation, and offer it to them and other friends as a New- 
Year Gift. 

Beyond a flight revifion of the manufcript previous to placing 
it in the hands of tiie printer, the Diary appears in the fame fliape 
as it was written in hurried moments fnatched during the buftle and 
fatigue of railway or fteamboat travel, or w-hilft refting for a brief 
period in an hotel. 

J. W. 

4 

lo Park Circus, Glasgow, 
Christmas, 1872. 



CONTENTS. 



The Voyage Out - ----- i 

The United States : New York - _ - - - 9 

From New York TO Albany AND Saratoga - - - 16 

Through Canada to the Falls of Niagara - - - 21 

A Detour TO Buffalo : St Catherine's - - - - 35 

From Hamilton to London ------ 37 

To Chicago by Way of Detroit ----- 40 

From Chicago to St Louis -••---- 47 

From St Louis to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky - - 53 

From Louisville to Cincinnati ----- 58 

From Cincinnati to Washington ----- 65 

From Washington to New York by Philadelphia - - 74 

The Voyage Home - - - - - - - 81 

Note of Distances Travelled by Land and Water in the United 
States and Canada from September 4TH till October 23D, a 

Period of Seven Weeks ------ 86 

Conclusion - - - - - - - - 8q- 



SOUVENIR OF A TOUR 

IN THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
AND CANADA. 



THE VOYAGE OUT. 

HAVING taken an affeftionate farewell of my dear wife and Aug. 23. 
children at Glencairn, I left Motherwell by train at half-paft 
two o'clock eii route for Liverpool, accompanied by Mr John Hendrie, 
of Scotftown Houfe, and " convoyed " as far as Carlifle by my friend 
Chief-Conftable M'Kay. We remained for a night in the great com- 
mercial port, flaying at the well-known Waflhington Hotel, where we 
were made very comfortable. 

This morning we were joined at breakfaft by Mr Hendrie's Aug 24. 
brother James, proprietor of a large iron foundry at Kilwinning, who 
is likewife to proceed with us_to the New World. My friend, Mr A. 
H. Simpfon, came to fee me off and wifh us God-fpeed. We had 
fecured berths in the fplendid fteamfhip " Ruffia," one of the celebrated 
Cunard liners, commanded by Captain Cook, and, at half-pafl twelve 
o'clock, we ftarted on our voyage, enjoying a very pleafant run to 
Queenftown. 

We arrived at Queenftown about eight o'clock A.M., the weather Aug. 25. 
being all that could be defircd. It was fully four o'clock in the 



2 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

A"i,'- 25' afternoon before we could ftart again, having to wait for " the mail," 
which to-day confifted of 109 bags of letters and newfpapers. We had 
breakfafb at half-paft eight o'clock, luncheon at one, and we took 
dinner at half-paft four, fhortly after weighing anchor. 

Aug. 26. We are now on the bofom of the great Atlantic, and there is blow- 

ing what an old Scotch failor calls " a bit breath o' wind." I learn 
that a number of the paffengers are affhfted with that awful malady, 
fea-fickness ; and very few of the lady-paffengers made their appearance 
on deck to-day. By reclining, and always keeping as much as poffible 
in the fame pofition, I avoided becoming fick. Looking around me 
at intervals, I obferved fome " kent faces : " among the paffengers from 
Scotland being — Mr and Mrs Moore, of Park Circus, Glafgow, Mr 
Galbraith, a brother of ex-Lord Provoft Galbraith of Glafgow, Mr 
M'Ewen, of Park Terrace, Glafgow ; Mr Moffat, of Ardroffan ; Mr 
Stott, agent for the Scottifh Amicable Affurance Company, Glafgow ; 
Mr and Mrs Arthur, of Barfhaw, and their fon Mafter Tom, a nice lad 
fourteen or fifteen years of age ; alfo Mr Richard Kidfton, of Newton, 
and his brother. Captain Kidfton, of the gallant 42d Highlanders. 
Occafional converfations with the above, and with my two travelling 
companions, Mr John Hendrie and his brother James, ferved to while 
away the time and keep me from wearying. Our good fhip has made 
gallant progrefs o'er the waves — having, fince leaving Queenftown, 
run a diftance of 242 nautical miles, which is equal to about 278 geo- 
graphical miles, the difference in computation being about a feventh. 

j\u„ 2, All vo}-ages to America are very much alike ; but writing for my 

own family circle, I may be excufed for fuppofing that my particular 
voyage is of confiderable interefl at home, and, therefore, I note down 
that the weather to-day is rougher than it was yefterday, and that it 
is wet as well. More of the paffengers are amiffmg — afflifted with the 
mal de mer. Although feeling at times rather "queer," I have, as 
yet, efcaped actual proftration. Took my breakfaft in my berth this 
morning, and fat down to luncheon and dinner alfo in what is called 
the fore-faloon of the fliip, which, to my fancy,, is more comfortable 
than the large flate-faloon, as it is lefs affefted by the vibration inci- 



THE UXITED STATES AND CANADA. 3 

dental to the working of the fcrew. The bill of fare is the fame in Aug. 27. 
both faloons — all the paffengers in the " Ruffia " having paid firft-clafs 
paffage-money — namely, twenty-fix pounds each. The hours for the 
various meals are timed on board to a minute, and the fare is varied 
and excellent. At half-paft eight o'clock a.m., a fumptuous breakfaft 
is ferved, at which there is as great a variet)' of eatables as one finds 
at a good Highland hotel in the height of the touring feafon, or as 
can be ferved on board that pride of the Clyde, the " lona " — the 
fteward of which is famed for giving good breakfafts. At noon, we 
have luncheon of foups, various meats, potatoes, roafted apples, &c. 
At four, dinner waits us — it confifts of a moft liberal fervice of foups, 
fifhes, entrees, joints, game, poultry, fweets, and deffert — everything, in 
fhort, that can tempt a fading appetite : it is needlefs to fay that 
thofe of the paffengers who have found their fea legs make hearty and 
repeated onflaughts on the various comeftibles. The waiting at table 
is excellent. Tea is ferved at half-paft feven o'clock : and, at a later 
hour in the evening, thofe who defire to have fupper can be fupplied ; 
but up till now I have abftained from that meal — indeed, I am ufually 
" berth'd " before the hour for ferving it. Life on board is not at pre- 
fent very eventful ; but it may be obferved that the monotony of the 
voyage was broken a little to-day when two fhips were feen in the 
diftance, alfo a large whale, and for a time we were accompanied by 
a fhoal of gambolling porpoifes. Thankful to fay that up till now I 
have efcaped fea-ficknefs, which I attribute, in a great meafure, to 
my having taken medicine, and remaining quiefcent. Diftance failed 
to-day, 346 nautical miles. 

There is nothing of any note to record to-day. Although the ^ ^S 
weather is dry, and there is a great glow of funfliine, ftill it is ftormy 
withal, and few of the paffengers have ventured on deck. It is a 
wonderful fight to fee the great waves of the Atlantic rolling moun- 
tains high all around the veffel ; no matter in which dire6lion one 
turns, there is nothing to be feen but a mighty world of water in 
turbulent motion ; truly, as the Pfalmift fays, " they that go down 
to the fea in fhips, that do bufinefs in great waters, thefe fee the 
works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep." A fellow- 



4 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Aug. 28. paffenger with whom I converfed, and who has croffed the Atlantic 
feveral times, expreffes his aftonifhment at the continued bad weather ; 
" very bad for the feafon," he fays. Perfonally, I have not felt fo well 
to-day, having had fuch an " all-overifh " feeling as to incite me to go 
to bed before dinner time. We are preffing onward ; diftance made 
to-day, 300 nautical miles. 

Auc;. 29. My bulletin of to-day muft record that I paffed a very bad night. 

The fhip rolled about dreadfully ; fo much fo that once or twice I was 
nearly pitched out of my berth. The berths (29 and 30) which Mr 
John Hendrie and I occupy are near the ftern of the veffel, and in 
confequence are affefted by all the movements of the fhip. Having 
doftored myfelf with a fpoonful of granulated magnefia about five A.M., 
two hours after that I arofe and enjoyed a look round on deck till break- 
faft; time, when I partook of an excellent meal and afterwards kept 
up well till luncheon time. I am writing this at half-paft two o'clock, 
and as I proceed the ftorm continues to increafe, therefore very few 
people are on deck. I have not been able to enjoy much converfation 
with the Glafgow "contingent" during the laft two days: moft of 
them being hors de combat in confequence of the ftorm. At noon 
to-day we had failed from the fame time yeflerday 307 miles. At 
dinner we had for an accompaniment the fierceft mufic of the ele- 
ments — the whirring rain and the deep crafliing roar of the thunder, 
preceded by vivid flafiics of lightning. Dinner in confequence very 
comfortlefs. 

By two o'clock yefterday (Friday) morning the wind had frefhened 
into what one of the officers called " a Iharp gale," and the force of the 
ftorm was fufficient to awaken the foundeft deeper. I " turned out," to 
ufe a nautical phrafe, about the ufual hour, and put in an appearance 
at the breakfafl table ; but, as was to be expe6led during the con- 
tinuance of fuch a gale, there were many vacant chairs. After eating 
a light breakfaft I ventured upon deck, but made only a very fhort ftay, 
as the veffel was pitching dreadfully, and fhipping every now and again 
heavy feas, which wafhed the deck from ftem to ftern. I was quite 
dull and ufelefs all day, laying fquatted on a couch reading and dozing 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 5 

alternately, not inclined to put pen to paper, and in confequence defer- Aug. 30. 
red this defcription for a day, as you will obferve by a perufal of the 
next entry. As one incident of the ftorm, I may mention that the 
top fail of our mizzen maft was blown clean away. Mr Moore, who 
has croffed the Atlantic above twenty times, faid to me in the courfe 
of converfation, that he had never feen the weather fo rough at this 
feafon of the year, and that we were having quite a winter-like 
voyage. Strange to fay, I have never yet become fea-fick — that is, 
to the extent of having my ftomach upfet : it is only right to confefs, 
however, that at times I feel decidedly queerifh and out of forts. 

To-day (Saturday) we are croffing the vaft cod banks of New- Aug. 31. 
foundland, the greateft fifliery of its kind in the world, although it is 
faid not to be fo produ6live now as it once was ; and no wonder, feeing 
that it has been fo induftrioufly fifhed for a period of three centuries. 
We have juft had luncheon, and while I am writing this a pleafant change 
in the weather is taking place : the ftorm has abated, and the 
motion of the fhip is therefore not fo violent as it was during the laft 
two days. With the good weather come forth the ladies. I faw 
Mrs Moore and alfo Mrs Arthur on deck to-day for the firft time fmce 
Tuefday, they having, I fancy, kept their ftate-rooms on account of 
the ftormy weather. A number of the paffengers not hitherto feen 
on deck, having found their fea legs, are promenading and lounging 
about, or fixed on American rocking chairs, " taking it eafy," as the 
faying is, many of the Americans having their own private chairs on 
board. At dinner, however, we had premonitory fymptoms of a recur- 
rence of the gale, and feveral ladies and gentlemen left the table in 
confequence. I turned in to my berth about nine o'clock, and in the 
courfe of an hour the ftorm increafed fo very confiderably that I flept 
very little indeed. I heard the waves dafliing upon the fhip with 
irrefiftible force, and feveral fierce feas, I was told, broke over her. 
Diftance run yefterday, 275 miles ; to-day, 254 miles. 

We had breakfaft at the ufual hour, and, being Sunday, we had Sepi. i. 
Divine fervice at half-paft ten o'clock, when all were invited to as- 
femble. Worfhip was conduced b)- Dr Wallace, the furgeon of the 



6 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. I. Hiip, a young gentleman from Derry — the form of fervice being that 
of the EngHfh Church. During this forenoon all the paffengers were 
talking of the dreadful gale. Had a chat with the old ftewardefs, 
Mrs Nelfon, who recollefted having feen me fome years ago at Liver- 
pool feeing Mrs Orr (Mrs Watfon's fifter) away to America in the 
" Perfia." The old lady told me that fhe had never before experienced 
fuch a rough paffage during the month of Auguft, nor fcarcely at any 
period of the year — " This is like a voyage in the worft month of win- 
ter, fir." To-day is exceedingly fine, with the fun fhining brightly, 
but there is a heavy fwell on the water, which caufes the fliip to roll 
very much. All are now williing for calm weather, if only for the 
fake of variety, feeing that we are within three days' fail of New 
York. Mrs Arthur has migrated to the fore faloon, and while I am 
writing fiie is reclining on one of the couches, her fon fitting near her. 
She bears out my idea that this faloon is greatly more comfortable 
than the other. CoUefted fome fubfcriptions to-day, in addition to 
a few I had collefted before leaving home, for Widow Ruffel of Chicago, 
and her children, and I now feel pretty certain of being able to hand 
her over fully twenty pounds fterling, which will be of great fervice in 
her prefent affli6lion, fiie having loft her hufband, dwelling-houfe, and 
houfehold furniture in the difaftrous fire which burned down a large 
portion of Chicago. Knowing fome relations of her deceafed hufband 
refident in Motherwell, as refpe6lable and induftrious perfons, who had 
probably affifted their unfortunate relations in Chicago as far as their 
means permitted, I originated a fubfcription among my own friends, 
with the refult juft flated. A noteworthy incident of to-day's voyage 
was that a heavy fea broke in upon our fliip, fweeping the lower deck, 
where a great many paffengers were feated, from end to end with 
great force. You may be fure it very fpeedily fcattered the whole 
party, and fpoiled the valuable clothes of many of them, much to the 
amufement of thofe who were looking down from the faloon deck, 
although it was rather wicked of them to rejoice at the misfortunes of 
their neighbours. The weather moderated after this, and, along with 
fome others, I waited on deck to fee the going down of the fun on the 
wide wafte of waters, which was a beautiful and, in fome refpefls, a 
folemn fight. Diftance accompliflied to-day, 322 miles. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 7 

I was JLift about to write that this morning I was " up with the ^^P'- 2. 
lark," but foon recoUefted that no larks fing on the mighty At- 
lantic Ocean, Co, putting down the plain truth, let me fay that after 
an excellent night's reft I made my appearance on deck a little 
after feven o'clock, determined to have an hour's airing before break- 
faft. The weather has at length changed for the better, and to-day 
almoft the whole of the paffengers have fhewn up. Many whom I 
had not feen hitherto came on deck this morning for the firft time, and 
it is the general opinion on board that the remainder of our paffage will 
be pleafant and fmooth. The monotony of the paffage was broken 
to-day by one of the " fights at fea ;" about noon we met the " Spain," 
a large four-mafted veffel with two funnels, belonging to the National 
Steam Shipping Co., and bound from New York to London. This 
interefted us all very much, as did a barque in the diflance, fuppofed 
to be making for the Wefb Indies. It may be mentioned here that ever 
fmce leaving Oueenftown the " Ruffia " has encountered ftrong head 
winds, and thefe have, of courfe, greatly retarded our progrefs. It is 
amufing to note the expedients reforted to on board in order to " kill 
time," as it is called, and the efforts to do this would amufe a deeper 
ftudentof human character than I can pretend to be. An immenfe 
deal of card-playing and betting goes on in certain circles. Every 
day a number of bets are made or a fweepftakes entered into as 
regards the number of miles the fliip has failed during the preceding 
twenty-four hours. The diftance made from day to day is announced 
in a bulletin iffued by the Captain, generally about half-paft twelve 
o'clock, and not till then is it known who is the winner. To-day, for 
the firft time, I joined one of thefe fweepftakes, and pocketed half-a- 
fovereign as my winnings. The fweepftake was got up as to the 
number of miles the fhip had failed up till twelve o'clock ; my guefs 
was 2S4, other gentlemen had gueffed from 286 to 305, but the diftance 
a6tually run turned out to be 275 miles, and my guefs being the neareft, 
I won the fweepftake. You have no idea of the intereft fuch a trifling 
affair as this creates on board fhip, where all are naturally anxious to 
find fome caufe of excitement. Juft at prefent (fay fix o'clock P.M.) 
other two large fweepftakes are being organized as to the number of 
the pilot boat \\hich fiiall firft reach our lliip with pilot on board to 



8 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 2. guide her fafely into New York. It appears there are twenty-four 
of thefe pilot boats, fo twenty-four gentlemen having each placed a 
pound in the pool, the holder of the lucky member will pocket twenty- 
three fovereigns. I have joined one of the pools or fweeps. Turned 
in about eight o'clock. 

Sept. 3. Got up this morning about feven o'clock, after a capital night's reft. 

Had my ufual hour's walk on deck before breakfaft was ferved, and 
enjoyed that meal very much. Would you like to know what I had 
for breakfaft to-day ? Well, I began, as at home, with fome porridge 
and milk, followed by a cup of tea and a chop, and wound up by 
partaking of a fmall portion of a favourite American difli called 
" hominy." This excellent condiment is compofed of the fweet Indian 
corn ground like oatmeal, which, after being thoroughly boiled, is fried 
in fmall cakes, and may be eaten either with fugar or fait and butter, 
according to tafte. At breakfaft we have all kinds of bread, hot rolls, 
potatoes, &c. While I am bufy pofting up my Diary (at half-paft ten 
o'clock), the gentlemen interefled in the fweepftakes, which I have 
already defcribed, are keeping a fharp look-out for the pilot boats. 
One of them (No. 14) has been feen in the diftance ; but being 
too far off to make up to us, the gentleman holding that number 
may be faid to be quite "out of the hunt." Three o'clock. — The 
fweepftakes are at length decided, and " No. i " has carried the day, 
a pilot boat bearing that number having juft come " right flap 
down upon us," as an American lad faid. General Butterfield is the 
lucky holder of number one in our fweep, fo he places £2^ to his 
credit by the tranfaflion. I may juft mention that the moment the 
boat came alongfide, the Captain ordered the fteam to be fliut off, in 
order that the pilot might be able to board us. Dined, as ufual, at 
four o'clock ; and an hour and a half afterwards, whilft walking on 
deck — the weather being fine although rather cold — another pilot 
boat. No. 19, approached and faluted our good Ihip, the " Ruffia." 
About fix o'clock we were all interefted by the cry of " land ho !" 
Long Ifland having come into fight in our right. As it feems we 
fhall not reach our place of anchorage until about twelve o'clock to- 
night, I refolve, as it is very cold, to " turn in," making the good 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 9 

refolution, before doing fo, to be up an hour earlier than ufual in the Sept. 3. 
morning, the quarantine doftor being expefted on board about feven 
o'clock A.M., to certify as to our general health, after which every- 
body will haften to go on fliore. 

Turned out this morning about fix o'clock, and found that we had Sept. 4. 
caft anchor near Staten Ifland. After breakfaft, at feven o'clock, 
the " Ruffia " weighed anchor, and (learned to the Cunard Wharf at 
Jerfey City. After a very long delay in getting out the luggage, 
we at length left the fteamer, and proceeding to a carriage belonging 
to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, we drove dire6l to that palatial edifice. 
My firft aft after arriving was to telegraph home to Mrs Watfon, in a 
cipher form previoufly agreed upon : I fimply fent the words, " Ac- 
knowledge — Receipt — Important," each word having, of courfe, its own 
meaninpf. 



THE UNITED STATES: NEW YORK. 

The fenfation of once again being on dry land was exceedingly Sept, 4. 
pleafant, although it was fome time before I could feel I was not 
" heezing " up and down in the fliip. After fecuring a bedroom and 
taking a hot bath, which was a great luxury, I dreffed for din- 
ner ; in the meantime we had a vifitor in Mr R. Rennie, 152 Cham- 
bers Street, a friend of my friends the Hendries. After dinner I 
ftrolled with the Meffrs Hendrie along Broadway, one of the fineft 
ftreets in New York, as far as the South Ferry oppofite to Brooklyn, 
a diftance of about three miles. Returning to our hotel by omnibus, 
we took tea, after which I wrote my Diary, and about ten minutes 
after nine o'clock was fnug in bed. Met Mr Arthur of Barfhaw while 
walking along Broadway, and had a minute's chat with him. 

From the flight glance of New York which I obtained laft night, it Sept. 5. 
began to dawn upon me this morning that I had reached a land of 



lO SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 5. wonders, and that I was dwelling in a city of great fplendour, where 
as in all other mighty congregations of men, there was alfo poverty of 
the moft appalling kind. Thefe were the thoughts which occurred to 
me as I was dreffing for breakfaft, of which meal we partook at nine 
o'clock. At about ten o'clock we had a call from Mr William Rennie, 
fon of Mr Robert Rennie, who kindly came to a6l as our guide, 
and to fhew us the fights of New York. Hired an open carriage 
and pair off the ftreet in order to drive through the city. The 

charge will aftonifh you — it was at the rate of two dollars an hour 

a dollar, as you are aware, being about four fhillings in Britifh 
money. We had a hard day's work in fight-feeing. I fhall briefly 
run over what we faw, and then I will give you an idea of my 
impreffions of the " Empire City," as the Americans call New York. 
Firftly, we proceeded to the Supreme Courts, then to the City Hall, in 
Broadway, and next to the offices of the Equitable Affurance Com- 
pany, in the fame great thoroughfare, which are faid to be the fineft in 
the world. We afcended by a lift to the top of the eflablifhment, 
in order to obtain a better view of New York than we could obtain from 
driving about in a carriage. It is always advifable to view a city from 
fome high place, as it helps one to underftand its geography better than 
any number of drives, and we were awarded an excellent view of New 
York City, New Jerfey City, and Brooklyn. We next went to the Affay 
Office, a place where they melt down both new and old gold and filver, 
and from the Affay Office to the Stock Exchange and Court Houfes in 
Wall Street was a natural fequence. The next place of intereft which 
we vifited in the city was " The Tombs," or City Prifon of New York, 
and in one of the cells of this melancholy place we faw and heard a man 
named Stokes (the perfon who murdered the notorious Fifk) converfing 
with a friend who had called to fee him. They fpoke to each other 
through a grating, which, I believe, is the cuftom in all prifons. The 
time occupied in feeing the places I have mentioned was about 
three hours. After leaving the prifon of " The Tombs," we drove 
to the Central Park, a place of recreation for the people of New 
York, which refembles, in fome degree, the Bois de Boulof^ne 
in the environs of Paris, and is very large, containing at leaft eio-ht 
hundred acres of pleafure-crround, in walks, graffy plots, lakes. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. II 

flower-gardens, zoological colle6lions, &c. We fpent an hour or two Sept. 5. 
in this place very enjoyably, and afterwards drove along with Mr 
William Rennie to his club, where we dined. As the club (the Union 
League Club) was nearly oppofite our hotel in the Fifth Avenue, we 
felt quite at home. After dinner we adjourned to the Fifth Avenue 
Theatre, where we fpent the evening, and came home to " rooft " about 
half-paft ten o'clock. The chief theatres in New York, if I may judge 
from the one we vifited, are exceedingly comfortable, and in many re- 
fpefls fuperior to thofe at home : the comfort of the audience being 
efpecially ftudied. 

Breakfafled about the ufual hour — viz., nine o'clock — when Mr Sept. 6. 
William Rennie again kindly called, offering to fpend the day with us. 
I preferred, however, to be left to my own devices this day, as it was 
my wifh to vifit fome friends, particularly my old fchool-fellow, Mr 
John Baird, and the Turkingtons. Firft of all, I called at Mr Baird's 
houfe, 324 Lexington Avenue ; the eldeft daughter only was at home, 
the other members of the family being away at the coaft, and her father 
away at his office in the city. Went then to 152 Chambers Street for 
a telegram which I expefted from home. Called next at Mr Baird's 
office, 29 William Street, and happily found him there. We vifited 
Delmonico's, a celebrated reftaurant, and partook of refrefhments, and 
had a very long chat. Afterwards I went acrofs, via Fulton's Ferry, 
and called upon Mr and Mrs Turkington, with whom I remained till 
nearly dark, when I left for my hotel that I might finifli the writing of 
this Diary, which, along with a letter, I am anxious to fend home to my 
wife and children at 10.45, the hour at which the box clofes for Eng- 
land. 

The weather this morning is very hot. Vifitors came to-day at Sept. 7. 
breakfaft time, and we had alfo the pleafure of feeing fome acquaint- 
ances: Mr William Robertfon, mining engineer, Glafgow, and Mr Baird, 
formerly manager to Meffrs Colin Dunlop & Co., of Quarter Iron 
Works, fat down oppofite to us at the breakfaft table, having juft 
arrived from Port Wafliington Iron Works. Mr William Turkington 
called about ten, and I allied him to fpend the day with us in fight- 



12 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 7. feeing, to which propofition he kindly agreed. My firft bufinefs was 
to call at the bank of Taylors Brothers, Wall Street, to procure 
fome of what is vulgarly called " the needful." I difcounted with them 
a twenty pounds National Bank of Scotland Circular Note at the rate 
of five dollars and forty cents per pound fterling, or a total of one 
hundred and eight dollars. My next vifit was to the City of the Dead 
(or " God's Acre," as a graveyard is fometimes called in England) at 
the beautiful cemetery of Greenwood, at Brooklyn. In order to econo- 
mife time, and fee the place to advantage, we hired a carriage for an 
hour's drive through the cemetery grounds, which are very extenfive, 
covering a fpace of over fix hundred acres. The monuments are much 
more expenfive than any we have in Glafgow Necropolis, fome of them 
having coft from ten to fifteen thoufand pounds ! The hearfes here are 
very light and elegant, being built chiefly of plate glafs, which admits of 
the coffin infide being feen. After infpedting the cemetery, we pro- 
ceeded, partly on foot and partly by aid of the cars, to vifit Profpe6l 
Park. This is alfo a very large park, but not fo large as the Central on 
the other fide of the river, called the Eaft River ; the Hudfon, at New 
Jerfey, where we landed from the " Ruffia," being known as the North 
River. Enjoyed the vifit to Profpefl Park exceedingly, and remained 
fully an hour promenading up and down among a vaft number of 
other gentlemen, many of them accompanied by ladies, liftening to the 
mufic difcourfed by a capital inftrumental band. Arrived at our hotel 
about fix o'clock, and dined at the table d'hote^the dinner of my 
friend cofliing me two dollars, which is about eight fliillings fter- 
ling : this fa6l is noted fimply to give you an idea of American 
prices. Having finifhed dinner, we adjourned, along with Mr Robert- 
fon and Mr Baird, to a concert-room, in Twenty-third Street, where 
we heard fome finging fimilar to that of the Chrifty Minftrels at St 
James' Hall, London. After a very brief fl:ay we left, and proceeded 
to a garden concert, where we remained but a fliort hour, and then 
came home to our hotel. 

Sept. S. You will have read at home by this time of the great heat experi- 

enced this feafon in New York. I can corroborate, from perfonal 
experience, all that has been faid. To-day it is fo e.xceffively hot that 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. I 3 

few perfons are to be feen on the ftreet ; my friends and myfelf have Sept. S. 
in confequence determined not to go out of doors. I am therefore bufy 
writing in my bedroom, with as light a burden in the way of clotlies 
as I can poffibly fuftain ; and my friends are in their bedrooms in a 
fmiilar condition. Mr Turkington was to have called this forenoon 
to inform us whether the celebrated Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was 
to preach to-day in his church at Brooklyn, as we are all very 
anxious to hear him, but up to the prefent time, 1.30 P.M., he has 
not made his appearance. Since our arrival the weather has been, 
fpeaking generally, very fine — neither too hot nor too cold ; bril- 
liant funfliine during the day, greatly tempered by a flight breeze. 
To-day, however, it is all too hot for our Scottifh taftes. Yefter- 
day I called on Mr T. Dennifboun, at No. 10 Twentieth Street, 
near this hotel, but, unluckily, he had gone out. You will remember of 
his being at Glencairn, along with Mr Baird, two years ago. He had 
called upon me at the hotel here on Thurfday evening, but I was out 
at the time, and did not fee him. His brother, however, whom I did 
fee, was very cordial and hofpitable, and offered us the ufe of his car- 
riage and pair for a drive in the Central Park, or anywhere elfe we 
pleafed. I promifed to call again, if time would permit, to fee his 
brother, but found that I could not manage to do fo. While we 
were in our refpeftive bedrooms fhunning the heat, Turkington, it 
feems, was in the reading-room of the hotel waiting for us. We dined 
at three o'clock, and continued refting and chatting within doors, on 
account of the ftill intenfe heat, for a couple of hours after dinner. The 
thermometer, I may tell you, ftood at 97"^ in the fliade, and we heard of 
fix cafes of funftroke having taken place. As Robertfon and Baird 
were on the point of ftarting for Canada, we wiflied them a hearty fare- 
well, and then fallied out for a walk, proceeding down to Third Avenue, 
to obtain a ftreet railway car to convey us to the ferry at " Hell Gate," 
as it is called. This ferry is conveniently placed in order to enable any 
one to fee and infpeft the Government operations for improving the 
navigation of Eaft River — an improvement which, if accompliflied, will 
enable veffels from Europe to reach New York by the other end 
of Long Ifland, and thus fave pretty nearly a day's failing. The 
village of Aftoria is clofe by the works where the great under- 



14 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN' 

Sept. 8. water blafting operations, which we went to infpeft, are being carried 
on. It is thought, if the opening of the river for large fliips proves 
fuccefsful, that this Httle village may yet become a large town. Mr 
Turkington told me that he had afked his father to purchafe property 
there ; and it might turn out a very good fpeculation to do fo. We 
returned to our hotel by the fame route as we went, and reached it 
about nine o'clock, infpefting on our way the large fuite of ftables 
belonging to the Tramway Company, which can accommodate 1500 
horfes, with houfe room in addition for 250 of the large ftreet cars 
which are now an inftitution, in American cities. All claffes ufe 
them, and they are to be found on the chief ftreets of New York, 
Broadway excepted, where only omnibufes of the ufual kind are 
allowed to ply. Thefe are exceedingly plentiful, and are much ufed. 
There is no conduftor, as on our 'bufes ; you go into them without 
ceremony, the coachman opening and clofing the doors by means of a 
pulley, and you hand your fare to that fundlionary through a hole in 
the roof of the vehicle. No perfon rides on the roof of a 'bus here, 
becaufe in fummer the heat is fo exceffive and in winter the cold is fo 
fevere. 

As you will have gathered from what has been detailed to you, I 
have been rather induftrious in feeing all that could be feen, and I 
fhall now ftate briefly my general impreffions of New York, which con- 
tains a population of one million fouls. The " Empire City" is juft 
like all other great feats of population : it contains the ufual mixture 
of good and bad. There are all around evidences of great wealth and 
of dire poverty. Palaces for the wealthy, which have cofl, in their 
ereftion and decoration, fabulous fums of money ; and hovels for the 
poor, which have been run up for the price of an old fong. Take, for 
inflance, the private dwelling-houfe of Mr A. T. Stewart in Fifth 
Avenue ; it is built wholly of fine white marble, and is superbly fitted 
up. Some of the fliops and many of the offices in Broadway are alfo 
built of marble or granite, others being conftrufled of iron work, com- 
mon ftone, brick, and other material. Many of the New York fliops or 
" (tores " as they are called, are decorated with great fplendour, and 
contain goods of the finefl qualities, fome kinds of which are far more 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. I 5 

expenfive than the fame goods are at home. The hotels are moftly sept. 8. 
all buildings of vaft fize — efpecially erected for the purpofe of being 
ufed as hotels — as are the theatres and newfpaper offices. The 
reftaurants and oyfter faloons are numerous, and fome of them, fuch 
as Delmonico's, are fitted up at very great coft. In many of the 
cafes the cuftomers are ferved by young women gaily dreffed for the 
purpofe of pleafmg the eye. Of courfe there are markets of vaft fize 
teeming with fifh, meat, fruit, game, &c., in wonderful variety, and it 
mufi: take an enormous quantity of provifions of all kinds to feed fuch 
a large population, augmented as it is daily by an inceffant influx of 
ftrangers from every part of America, and, indeed, from all parts of 
the world. Every perfon one fees feems bent on bufinefs ; perfons 
do not linger over their meals, but rife from table at once, and flart 
off to their " ftores," or to follow fome purfuit or another. Great ufe 
is made here of fteam power and the ele6lric telegraph, the latter 
power being in confbant ufe by all claffes of the people, and the 
forefts of fteamboat funnels one obferves at the various harbours 
and quays afford convincing proof of the American fondnefs for loco- 
motion. Everywhere, too, there is a defire to pufli bufinefs : even 
the lobbies of the hotels being crowded with perfons having newfpapers, 
books of light literature, and other things for fale. As may be fup- 
pofed, amid fuch a bufy and competitive population, there is a conftant 
demand for news, and the newfpapers here feem to fell in tens of thou- 
fands. I may mention, too, that there is an abfence of much of the 
ufelefs ceremony and etiquette which oppreffes us a good deal in the 
old country. As an example of what I mean, I may juft fay that 
neither clergymen nor lawyers here wear a diftin6live drefs — the 
advocate has no wig, and the minifter may be preaching to you in a 
fhooting coat and tweed troufers ! There is much lefs confumption 
of tobacco than I had expefted to find in New York, and the general 
fobriety of the people is commendable. Of courfe there are drunkards, 
as in all other communities, but the drunkennefs of New York did not 
appear to me to be at all ftriking. At dinner very little wine is con- 
fumed, either in hotels or private houfes — indeed, the popping of a cork 
makes quite a noife ! Iced water is the chief drink of all claffes here ; 
and while ice is abundant and cheap— nearly every family ufmg a 



l6 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. S. few pounds of it daily- — water is plentiful, the people being juftly 
proud of their water-works. The water fupply of New York is 
brought from a diftance of 40 miles over hill and dale, and the chief 
refervoir contains a fupply equal to five hundred millions of gallons : 
a refervoir nearer the place of confumption holds about one hundred 
and fifty millions of gallons, and is thirty-five acres in extent. I fus- 
pe6l Glafgow and Loch Katrine muft play fecond fiddle to the Croton 
Water-works of New York. 



FROM NEW YORK TO ALBANY AND SARATOGA. 

Sept. 9. Having made up our minds to move onward, we took breakfafl 

early to-day, and by nine o'clock were on our way for Albany on 
board of the " Daniel Drew," the weather being ftill very warm, but 
tempered a little by a breeze off the water. Our fteamboat is in all 
refpefts a magnificent fhip, and far furpaffes in almoft every appoint- 
ment our far-famed Clyde " lona," which fomewhat refembles the 
American river fteamers. We enjoyed the fcenery on both fides of the 
Hudfon very much — it was a complete feaft to the eyes ; whilft the fcene 
on the water was occafionally enlivened by the appearance of a fteam- 
tug drawing fome twenty or thirty merchant vefiels loaded with goods 
of various kinds, many of them well flowed with building materials, 
fuch as cut wood, bricks, flones, &c. ; others were filled with grain, 
and all were bound for New York. The River Hudfon is greatly a 
pleafure ftream for the people of New York, who largely avail them- 
felves of the luxurioufiy fitted up paffenger veffels which /ail upon it, 
for the purpofe of viewing the fine highland fcenery to which it gives 
accefs — indeed, " the Highlands " of the Hudfon are thought by fome 
tourifts who have feen both to furpafs in many refpe6ls the fcenery of 
the Rhine itfelf It was on the Hudfon, too, that Robert Fulton, the 
inventor, tried his fteamboat in 1S07, two hundred years after the dis- 
covery of the river by Hendrick Hudfon, the Dutch navigator. Our 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 17 

veffel, the " Daniel Drew," made a friendly call at various points to let Sept. 9. 
out or take in paffengers. Among other places at which we flopped 
were Yonkers (where Wafhington wooed his firft love, Mary Philips), 
Weft Point (where is fituated the United States Military Academy), 
Cornwall, Newburg, Poughkeepfie, and Rhinebeck, where there is an 
aftive iron work with two blaft furnaces in operation. I cannot in the 
limits of a Diary particularize all the places we paffed or the fights I 
faw, but many of them were of confiderable hiftorical intereft. We 
alfo flopped at Catfkill and Hudfon, and ultimately reached Albany 
about fix o'clock, having fteamed in all a diftance of nearly 150 miles. 
The River Hudfon is not navigable farther up than Troy : all 
along its courfe I noticed that a confiderable number of the houfes 
were built of wood, and I fancied them to be very comfortable dwell- 
ing places. We walked direft from the boat to a hotel called the 
" Delavan Houfe," where we were made exceedingly comfortable. 
We had previoufly dined on board the fteamboat about three o'clock, 
when we partook of an excellent and well-ferved meal, the fteward and 
all his fubordinates being coloured perfons, chiefly from the Southern 
States of Georgia and Carolina, but thefe negroes make excellent 
waiters. The American river fteamers are neither more nor lefs than 
floating palaces, replete with all the comforts which a traveller can defire. 
Lavatories, dreffing-rooms, clofets, fhaving-fhops, book and newfpaper 
ftands, fruit fhops, and fo on. Moft of the fteamboats have likewife 
bridal chambers fitted up moft luxurioufly for newly-married couples, 
who do not fhun publicity during the honeymoon as our modeft Scot- 
tifli maidens do ; in faft, it is a blemifli in the American chara6ler that 
the home life is not thought fo effential to domeftlc happinefs as with 
us in the dear 'old " land of the mountain and the flood." I have 
encountered whole families here — papa, mamma, and a colony of fons 
and daughters — who know no other home than the public rooms of 
the hotel in which they contraft for board and lodging ! 

After a hearty breakfaft we proceeded on foot to fee the fights of ^^pt. 10. 
Albany, the chief town — indeed, the capital — of the State of New 
York. In turn we vifited the Agricultural State Hall, the City Hall, 
the Supreme Court Houfe, and the Capitol, in which various public 

D 



I 8 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. lo. officers have accommodation. A new Capitol is being built at an 
eftimated expenfe of ten million dollars ! This, when completed, 
ought to be a fine building, confidering what it will coft ; and I 
have no doubt it will, judging from the model which one of the fore- 
men exhibited to my friends and myfelf We next proceeded to exa- 
mine the great bridge acrofs the Hudfon, and walked along to the other 
end of it, where there is a fmall town. This bridge islikewife ufed for 
railway purpofes, efpecially for trains to Bofton and other towns in 
that direftion ; and there is a portion of it which opens in the centre 
fo that veffels may pafs up and down the river. This part of the 
ftrufture, which is about one hundred yards long, is moved by fteam 
power, and works very eafily. Whilft we were on the bridge we faw 
it fwung round, and fo I am able to fpeak about it from obfervation. 
Afterwards we made a little excurfion in a ftreet tramway car, driv- 
ing about three miles into the country in the direftion of Troy, a 
town fix miles from Albany ; and returning about three o'clock to 
our hotel, we fat down to dinner, being waited upon, as in the fleam- 
boat, by coloured fervants. Before quitting Albany, I may ftate that 
it is populous with " inftitutions " of all kinds — civil, criminal, and reli- 
gious. There is, for inftance, the State Library, which contains 60,000 
volumes ; the Albany Inftitute for Scientific Advancement, containing 
a library of 9000 volumes ; the Young Men's Affociation and the 
Apprentice's Library, which contain 17,000 volumes between them; 
there is alfo a very fine model prifon or penitentiary. Albany alfo 
contains a large number of churches, one of which, the Cathedral of 
the Immaculate Conception, contains fittings for 4000 perfons. An 
obfervatory, well furnifhed and richly endowed, enables the ftudy of 
aftronomy to be carried on with advantage. Nor is the art of war 
neglefted or forgotten, a great gloomy building being devoted to 
the purpofes of a State Arfenal. At half-paft four o'clock we left by 
train for Saratoga, the fafliionable watering place of America, where 
we arrived at feven o'clock. We walked through a portion of the town 
to the Clarendon Hotel, where we obtained bedrooms, our baggage 
reaching us about half-an-hour afterwards. Travellers in this country 
have very little trouble with their luggage, and do not require to worry 
themfelves looking after it upon the road as they have to do in England 



T1U-: VXITKD STATES AND CANADA. I9 

and on the Continent. It is given in charge to a perfon at the begin- Sept. 
ning of the journey, who deHvers up a " token " for each package, 
and you never need to take any trouble about it till you arrive at 
your deftination, when you mention to which hotel you are going, 
and your traps are duly forwarded. The weather being delightful 
to-day, we enjoyed the run by rail from Albany very much. During 
the progrefs of our journey we took note of all that was going on, 
efpecially obferving that numerous fields of Indian corn were being 
cut down : in all fliapes and forms this cereal is in great demand in 
the United States. Orchards of fine fruit were alfo noticeable during 
the journey on each fide of the river, and the railway as well. A 
large trade in timber is carried on at Albany — the canal, beginning 
at Lake Erie, about 300 miles in the interior of the country, affording 
excellent facilities for tranfit. 

In the evening we n:rolled through the interefting city of Saratoga, 
tafting the water at two of the mineral fprings which have brought 
fuch fame to the place. The firft fpring yields a liquid very much 
refembling feltzer water. It is fituated in the garden attached to our 
hotel (the Clarendon) ; the other fpring which I vifited is the property of 
another hotel called the Columbian, but we did not like the flavour of 
it fo well. Saratoga may be defcribed as a mixture of Harrogate and 
Scarborough in Yorkfhire. It is the gay place of refort in the feafon 
of numerous American families, attracted by the fame of its fprings, 
and a defire to mix in the moft fafliionable fociety of the United State.s. 
Living at Saratoga in the height of the feafon is very expenfive, the 
charge at fome of the hotels being as high as five dollars for each perfon 
per day; and the fuites of dreffes required by thofe ladies who defire to 
(hine at the balls, pic-nics, &c., are very expenfive indeed. The coft of 
vifiting the place of late years has become fo high, that many families, 
inftead of going to drink the mineral waters, prefer taking a voyage to 
Europe and back, feeing the Highlands of Scotland, the mountains 
of Switzerland, and the hiftoric fights and fcenes of Italy before they 
return. As I have indicated, there are many different waters, but 
the fpring moft fought after is the Congrefs Spring, difcovered in 
1792, the waters of which are fent all over the world. Dreffmg, 



20 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. lo. dancing, and water-drinking, are the chief occupations of thofe who 
vifit Saratoga; and, in July and Auguft, I was told that there are 
about 30,000 people conftantly coming and going ; the refident popu- 
lation, however, is not more than 8000 inhabitants. Beyond its being 
the refort of gay fociety, there is nothing particular about the fcenery 
or funoundings of Saratoga ; but two or three of the hotels are 
remarkable for their fize and elegance, and hotels are a great inflitu- 
tion all over America, do plenty of bufinefs, are well organifed, and 
very profitable. Moft of them are of vaft fize : many contain looo 
apartments ! There are, as might be expe6led from its being fo 
crowded with vifitors, a number of hotels in Saratoga, as alfo feveral 
boarding houfes of a fuperior kind. One of the houfes there, the 
Union Hall Hotel, can accommodate as many as 1800 guefts, and 
another, the Congrefs Hall Hotel, can put up 1 500 perfons — quite a 
population of itfelf ! It may be alfo mentioned that attached to the 
Union Hall Hotel there is a large theatre or opera-houfe, and at all 
the hotels there are bands of mufic. It may intereft you to know 
that the Union contains twelve acres of carpeting and one acre of 
marble tiling, and that a vertical railway, or afcending chamber, ren- 
ders the whole fix ftoreys of the houfe of eafy accefs to the ladies and 
gentlemen who temporarily refide in it. Within the hotel grounds, 
I may alfo flate, there are numerous elegant cottages, which are much 
fought after by vifitors. 

..Sept. II. Arofe rather earlier than ufual this morning to take a fhort flroll 

in the city of fprings before breakfaft time. I drank at three of the 
wells in order to tafte the water. After breakfaft, my friends and I 
engaged a carriage for a three hours' drive in the neighbourhood, and 
with a view particularly to fee Saratoga Lake, about fix miles diftant 
from our hotel. On our way to this fheet of water, we vifited a num- 
ber of mineral fprings, kept open for vifitors at a trifling charge ; 
but we were contented with a mere tafte of the waters, not being 
inclined to exceed in our potations. While driving along we left our 
carriage once or twice to gather a few delicious apples which grow on 
trees planted by the wayfide, and which the coachman told us were 
pro bono publico. Apples, peaches, grapes, &c., are cultivated exten- 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 21 

fively and in great variety throughout the States, all in the open air, no Sept. 
hothoufe being required for either grapes or peaches ; and being an ex- 
ceedingly plentiful crop this feafon, apples are confequently very cheap. 
Excepting apples, however, I do not think the flavour of American 
fruits equal to that of thofe grown at home. We had alfo an oppor- 
tunity during our ride of vifiting a harveft field, where we examined 
the Indian corn as it was being gathered in, and alfo the large yellow 
pumpkins which grow along with the corn, and are ufed in the fame 
way as turnips, being boiled for the feeding of cattle. 



THROUGH CANADA TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 

After dinner we took the train at 3.15 for Glens Falls Station, Sept. 
on our way to Lake George ; and we arrived at Caldwell, a fmall 
town at the end of the lake, after a pleafant ride, about fix o'clock, 
having come a part of the way by flage coach. During this journey 
we enjoyed quite a change of fcenery, the landfcape being wild and 
rugged inftead of paftoral and quiet. Here we had wild woods and 
rufhing waters, reminding me of our own Highlands and other fcenes 
that I had formerly vifited. I may notice, before going farther, that 
we all obferved how bad the roads are here, both in town and country. 
They ftand in great need of being macadamifed ! The road from 
Glens Falls to Caldwell is laid with wooden planks the whole way, 
fo as to fill half its breadth ; the other half, as may be expefled, is 
mud in winter and fine duft in fummer, which renders travelling upon 
it very difagreeable. We were fo fortunate as to obtain apartments 
at a very fplendid and large houfe, with windows looking down 
upon the end of the lake, called Fort William Henry Hotel. There 
are feveral fmaller hotels in Caldwell, the place being very much 
frequented on account of its perfeft feclufion and remotenefs 
from the bufy hum of the city or the found of the railway whiftle. 
Our hotel had been quite full all fummer, but as " the feafon " at the 
time of our vifit was drawing to a clofe, the guefls were becoming 



22 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. II. lefs numerou,s. After our arrival at Caldwell, and before taking tea, 
we enjoyed a ftroU through the grounds of the hotel, and alfo went as 
far as the village. It appears that during the winter feafon at Cald- 
well the hotels and larger portion of the houfes are fhut up, fimilar to 
the praftice at Chamounix and one or two places in Switzerland. 
After enjoying a refrefhing cup of tea, we promenaded the balcony of 
our hotel, liftening to the ftrains of a band of.mufic playing at the 
edge of the lake. A lighted fleamboat was approaching, which 
attrafted great attention ; it was crowded with paffengers, many of 
whom landed here, and a cannon was fired in order that we might all 
hear the fplendid echo, which, to ufe a homely phrafe, is one of the 
" ferlies " of the place. After a while the band adjourned to the 
large drawing-room of the houfe, again for an hour or two to dis- 
courfe eloquent mufic. I waited for feme time in the expeftation 
that the younger members of the company would organize a fet of 
quadrilles or a waltz or two. But no ! high propriety was the order 
of the night ; fo I proceeded to my bedroom, and finifhed my Diary 
up to this date. The weather fmce we left New York has been moft 
enjoyable. 

Sept. 12. Breakfafted fo early as feven o'clock this morning, in order to be 

in time for the " Minniehaha " fteamboat to Ticonderoga. The 
following little incident may be mentioned here, by way of giving 
variety to thefe notes. From the careleffnefs of the porters engaged 
in conveying our baggage to the fteamboat, my hat-box fell off 
the cart and was crufhed under a wheel, completely deftroying my 
black hat. Going back at once to the hotel, I related what had occur- 
red, and demanded damages for the lofs, to which I thought rnyfelf 
quite entitled, feeing that I was charged a quarter of a dollar for 
the conveyance of each article to the boat. Five dollars were afked 
by me, and after a few minutes fpent in arguing the cafe, I was paid, 
and managed to reach the fteamboat in time. Lake George is a very 
pretty fheet of clear water, and by fome writers has been favourably 
compared with the lakes of Switzerland ; it is dotted with lovely 
little wooded iflands, there beiiig as many as 300 altogether, and for 
the angler it contains fine trout and well-flavoured bafs. I may men- 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 23 

tion, that in failing down Lake George two or three fmall places are Sept. 12. 

vifited in order to land and receive "paffengers. The fail down Lake 

Champlain from where we joined the fteamboat " United States," 

which had come from Whitehall (about 28 mil'es farther up the lake) 

to_^our deftination at Rouffe's Point, is very enjoyable, although the 

fcenery is not equal to that of Lake George. The towns^touched 

at on Lake Champlain are of confiderable importance : of thefe I may 

note Crown Point, Port Henry, Burlington, and Plattfbury. After a 

fail of about 30 miles, we landed at our deftination, or rather at a 

place diftant about four miles from it. We were conyeyed to Ticon- 

deroga proper in carriages, each of which was drawn by four horfes. 

Of courfe there is again a large hotel, where we find dinner"ready for 

the paffengers. The road from the place at which we debarked to 

the hotel is fomething awful — the worft I have yet experienced ; fo 

bad that I am quite aftonifhed none of the vehicles have broken 

down. The proprietor of the carriages, who happened to be along 

with us, faid he was willing to bet that it was the worft road in 

the whole United States': "If any one will tell me, fir, where 

there is a worfe road, I will go a darned long way to fee it, I will," 

faid he. 

About a quarter paft one o'clock, after an early dinner, we left 
Ticonderoga for Rouffe's Point, a diftance of 100 miles, where we 
are to get the railway train for Montreal, a farther diftance of 45 
miles. We arrived at Rouffe's Point about nine o'clock, and, this 
being the boundary between the United States and Canada, we had 
to fubmit to an examination of our luggage by the Revenue officers. 
After the fuffy ceremony of looking over our baggage had ter- 
minated we ftarted by train on the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada 
for Montreal, where we arrived- at midnight. We paffed, of courfe, 
over the River St Lawrence by means of the celebrated Vi6loria 
Railway Bridge. Having obtained our baggage, we drove off at 
once to the St Lawrence Hall Hotel, where we fecured rooms. On 
looking over the " Arrival Lift " — a book kept at every hotel, and 
where every new gueft fo foon as he arrives is required to write his 
name — we found that nearly all the ladies and gentlemen from Glas- 



24 SOUVENIR OF A TOUK IX 

Sept. 12. gow who came over in the " Ruffia " were either at prefent in tlie 
hotel or had been within the laft two days. 

Sept. 13. Had a call from Mr Allan G. Sheriff (fon of Mr George Sheriff of 

Glafgow), offering his fervices to fhew me the notable places of the 
city of Montreal. After converfing with him for fome time, and 
thanking him for his kind offer, which I found I could not accept, I 
went to the bank here to exchange two of my circular notes, receiving 
for my ^40 sterling 191 dollars "JJ cents. Afterwards I called on 
Meffrs S. W. Beard & Co., when Mr Beard kindly came out along 
with me and fliewed me the Montreal Docks and a canal running up 
alongfide the River St Lawrence, which enables fteamboats, barges, 
and " lumber" {i.e., timber) boats to avoid the rapids in failing up to or 
coming down from the fmooth waters of the river. Afterwards drove 
out with Mr Beard in his buggy (a carriage fo called) to his dwelOng- 
houfe, fituated on the inountain behind Montreal, and had the pleafure 
of being introduced to Mrs Beard. The mountain, it may be ex- 
plained, is a local name for the high grounds on which mofl of the 
upper claffes here have their houfes. Walked over Mr Beard's grounds, 
about eleven acres in extent, and drank a glafs of champagne, alfo ate 
fome fruit, the ne6larines and peaches being grown in his own garden. 
Before leaving, Mrs Beard prefented me with a fine bouquet of 
flowers, which upon my arrival at the hotel I fent up to Mrs Arthur's 
room with compliments. After dinner, which was ferved at half-pafl 
five o'clock, I walked down with my travelling companions to the 
Merchants' Exchange to read the newfpapers, but that eflablifliment 
was unfortunately fhut. I had, however, been there myfelf during 
the day, and read the firfl Scotch newfpapers I had feen fince leaving 
home — namely, the Scot/man and North BritiJJi Daily Mail of dates 
30th and 31ft Augufi:. Immediately after dinner, I had the gratifica- 
tion of receiving a letter from Mrs Watfon ; it was dated 29th 
Augufl:, and conveyed the pleafing intelligence that all were well at 
home. As the poft box was to clofe in a (hort time, I at once wrote 
home, acknowledging my wife's epiftle. At nine o'clock I finifh 
writing this, and am off to bed. N.B. — This is the firlT; wet day we 
have encountered fince leaving New York, 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 25 

Jumped out of bed this morning at fix o'clock, took a cup of coffee, Se^^i. 14. 
then off to the railway flation per omnibus, where we booked ourfelves 
for a village named La Chine, about nine miles above Montreal, on 
the edge of the river, our objefi: being to go on board a fbeamboat 
to fail down the rapids of the St Lawrence. Thefe rapids, which 
you have no doubt read about, are the moft turbulent of all the 
rapids on that river, and moft expert fteering is required to avoid 
the rifk of being bumped on the rocks, or probably fhipwrecked. 
" Shooting the rapids " is quite a pleafurable excitement, and is per- 
formed under charge of an expert pilot, who guides the fteamer with 
marvellous dexterity through the intricate channels, keeping cool and 
colle6led all the time, doubtlefs quite aware of the terrible refponfi- 
bility with which he is inverted : one falfe move, and the fteamer 
might be daflied to pieces in a few brief moments ! Three or four 
men are always required at the wheel to keep the veffel fteady. I need 
not fay that we were fo fortunate as to " ftioot the rapids " in fafety, 
and, paffing under the Viftoria Tubular Bridge, arrived once again 
at Montreal to breakfaft, after which we hired a carriage to drive up 
the mountain, and take us alfo to the other fights of Montreal. In 
the courfe of our little tour we paffed a number of fine private 
dwelling houfes, among others two belonging to the Brothers Allan, 
principal owners of the line of fteamfliips which fail between Liver- 
pool, Glafgow, and Montreal. Vifited, among otherplaces, the Epifcopal 
Church, which contains feats for one thoufand perfons, alfo the Jefuit 
Cathedral, Notre Dame, and the Water Works. I may ftate that the 
view from the mountain of the city of Montreal, the river and its huge 
bridge, and the fcenery beyond, is varied and pi6lurefque, embracing a 
vaft extent of country — from the city at its foot, with its buildings and 
fpires, the ifland of St Helen briftling with cannon, to the far diftant 
green hills of Vermont. Northward ftretches the Ottawa, and in the 
eaft and weft flows the mighty St Lawrence. I may juft note here, as 
a fample of how .bufmefs is done now-a-days, that before going away 
for our drive, I had occafion to telegraph to my office in Glafgow 
the following meffage — " With Beard, wants coal immediately — advife 
Glencairn ;" and for telegraphing thefe feven words I paid twelve dol- 
lars, or £2, 8s. fterling. 

E 



26 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 14. Montreal is a very fine city, containing many fplendid buildings both 

public and private, and thcfe, fpeaking generally, are built of a native 
limeflone which very much refembles granite. There are only one or 
two very good ftreets, in which the principal fliops are fituated — viz., 
St James Street and Notre Dame Street ; my hotel is in the former. 
The population of the city is now about 130,000 fouls. Montreal is 
built upon an ifland near the junction of the Rivers Ottawa and St 
Lawrence, and is connefled with the mainland by the Vi6loria 
Bridge, which is a monument of engineering enterprife. Except as 
regards the timber trade, Montreal is the chief port through which 
the Dominion maintains its relations with the Old Country, Hav- 
ing previoufly determined to ftart for Quebec after dinner, going 
by river and rail, and procured tickets "there and back," at feven 
o'clock we went on board the fteamboat " Montreal," and our fleeping 
berths being allotted to us, we ftarted on our voyage, the diftance 
from the one city to the other being 1 50 miles. The fail down the 
St Lawrence was exceedingly pifturefque, the moon being nearly full 
and the weather fine and bracing. Supper being included in the coft 
of our fare, we enjoyed that meal at half-paft nine o'clock, and in an 
hour afterwards we were fnug in our berths. 

.Sept. 15. We arrived at Quebec — the oldefl: and, after Montreal, the moft 

populous city in Britifli North America — about half-paft feven o'clock 
in the morning, and at once drove by omnibus to the St Louis Hotel, 
but that houfe being full of vifitors, we were obliged to fleep at 
another hotel belonging to the fame proprietor (Mr Ruffell), called the 
Clarendon ; we took our meals, however, in the St Louis. After a 
brief ftroll through a portion of the town, we attended public wor- 
fhip, and heard a fermon from the Rev. Dr Cook of the Scotch Pres- 
byterian Church. About one o'clock we ftarted upon a four hours' 
drive to Montmorencie and other places of intereft to ftrangers, 
vifiting by the way the Citadel, which has been called the Gib- 
raltar of the New World. One of the foldiers, about 200 of whom 
are in garrifon, conduced us round the forts, from which we obtained 
a fine view of both the upper and the lower town of Quebec, the River 
St Lawrence, the Ifle of Orleans, and the country as far as Mont- 



THli UNITED STATES AND CANADA. IJ 

morencie. We had here the pleafure of feeing the Governor General Sept. 15. 
of Canada, Lord Dufferin, and his lady, walking about for an airing 
quite fans cereinonie. Driving over the Plains of Abraham, we faw 
the fpot where General Wolfe fell. Outfide the walls — for Quebec is 
a walled city, and to ftudents full of hiftoric intereft — are the fuburbs of 
St Roche and St John, which extend along the river St Charles to the 
Plains of Abraham. On our way to the celebrated falls we paffed 
through the town of Beauport, wholly — a family or two excepted — 
occupied by French Canadians ; and I may jufl fbate in this place 
that a large number of the inhabitants of the city of Quebec, as well 
as many of the people in the neighbouring diftrifts, fpeak the French 
language, although it is more than a century now fince the province 
was taken from the French, to whom it formerl)' belonged, and with 
whom it was a pet colony. 

On arriving at Montmorencie we were conduced by a boy, through 
pleafant and pifturefque grounds, to fee the celebrated falls, at a charge 
of a quarter dollar each. We were greatly pleafed with the fight : the 
water of the River St Charles being in pretty full volume, the water- 
fall, which is of great height — not lefs than 250 feet — was well worth 
feeing, the ftream falling in an unbroken mafs of great breadth 
till halfway down, when it daflies againft an enormous rock and 
fparkles into foam. In winter the water freezes and the fcene changes : 
the fall then forms a huge cone of ice 100 feet high, which is annually 
the fcene of great merriment, as thoufands of people, bent on holi- 
day fports, flock to fee the wondrous fight. The River St Charles 
falls into the St Lawrence at this place. 

On our way back from Montmorencie we came through the lower 
part of Quebec, which very much refembles the town of Dieppe and 
other French towns. Many of the buildings are old world like, and 
feemed to be in a tumble-down fort of condition ; while not a few of 
them havepiazzas andwalks round them, which, when firft ere6led, would 
doubtlefs remind their proprietors of fome fweet fpot in their native 
land which they might never fee again. In the lower part of Quebec 
are fituated the chief private commercial eftablifhments, as alfo the 



28 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 15. Banks, Exchange, and Pofl-Office. On reaching our hotel we took 
dinner, and about half-paft fix o'clock I called for Mr Andrew 
Webfler at his dwelling-houfe, but found that, along with his eldefl: 
fon, he had gone to church. I faw Mrs Webfter, however, and one 
or two members of her family. She has nine children living, the 
youngefl two being twins, a boy and a girl named Lome and Louife : 
after a pleafant chat of twenty minutes' duration I came away, hav- 
ing arranged to meet Mr Webfler at the St Louis Hotel to-morrow 
morning. Hearing many people fpeak highly of the fervice of the 
Englifli Church, I went there in the evening, and heard an excellent 
fermon, then home to bed. Weather fine, but cold. 

Sept. 16. Mr Webfter called after breakfaft, and we went out along with 

him to view the city, firft vifiting the French Cathedral, where a 
funeral fervice was being condu61ed : the fifter of one of the Members 
of Parliament for Quebec being about to be buried. Afterwards 
called at an extenfive fhop along with Mr Webfler and purchafed a 
large and handfome dark-brown bear-fkin, fuitable for a carriage rug, 
the price of which was 40 dollars, equal to ;^8 fterling of Britifli money. 
Afterwards walked down to the lower part of the town b}' way of 
" Break-neck stair," and infpefted a houfe that had fallen on Satur- 
day, but fortunately without caufing any lofs of life. We then called 
at Mr Webfler's place of bufinefs, or " flore," as fuch places are 
ufually called in America and Canada, and were introduced to his 
partner, Mr Dinning, who was very glad to fee us, and recolle6led 
being at Glencairn about eight years ago, along with Mr Robert 
Webfler : being myfelf away from home at the time, he faw Mrs Wat- 
fon. Mr Dinning condu6led us to the wharves and florehoufes which 
his firm (Dinning & Webfter) have rented from the Town Commis- 
fioners : the firm, I am glad to thinl:, appears to be a thriving one, 
doing a large bufinefs. At twelve o'clock we fat down to a champagne 
luncheon provided by our friends, and at one o'clock we croffed by 
a ferry boat to Point Levi, where we took the train to Montreal. On 
our way there we halted at various flations : Methott's Mills, Artha- 
bafka, Danville, Richmond (where we partook of tea), St Lambert, 
and others. We reached Montreal about ten o'clock in the evening, 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 29 

and of courfe weut again to the St Lawrence Hall Hotel, where I Sept. k 
received a cable telegram from Mr McLure, my cafhier in Glafgow, 
which had been forwarded to me from New York. 

Up this morning at fix o'clock, and drove to the railway flation, Sept. 17 
where we took tickets by rail and fteamboat for Ottawa. At La 
Chine, about nine miles from Montreal, where we had been on 
Saturday, we went on board the " Prince of Wales " fteamboat, 
which conveyed us up the St Lawrence and River Ottawa as far 
as Carillon, where we again took the train, thus avoiding the 
fhallows and rapids of the River Ottawa. At the terminus of the 
railway, at a place called Grenville, we again boarded a fleam- 
veffel, the "Viftoria," which takes us riglijt on to Ottawa, where we 
expeft to arrive to-night at about half-paft fix o'clock. We break- 
fafted this morning on board the " Prince of Wales," and (four o'clock 
P.M.) we have juft finifhed dinner on board the " Viftoria." We are 
enjoying this day's fail very much, the weather being delightful — 
neither too hot nor too cold. Met on board Mr David Campbell, late 
of Glafgow, whofe father was at one time cafhier to Mr Dixon, of 
Govan Iron Works. He was accompanied by his wife and nephew, and 
the party were going on a pleafure excurfion to Ottawa. There were alfo 
on board two Members of the Canadian Parliament — the Hon. John 
Hamilton and the Hon. Mr Cameron — likewife Mr Ogilvie, of Mont- 
real, a friend of Mr Hendrie's, along with his fon, who were going 
to their fhooting quarters. All along our route, both from Quebec to 
Montreal and from that city as far as we have yet come, large trafls 
of plantation had been on fire ; fuch fires, it feems, are frequent in 
the Canadian forefts, and as they cannot eafily be extinguiflied, many 
thoufands of acres of trees are confcquently burned down. Young 
trees, however, foon feed themfelves, and replace thofe which are con- 
fumed. The accommodation on board the fteamboats by which I 
have been travelling has been throughout excellent. A gentleman 
on board informs me that it will be nearly eight o'clock to-night ere 
we arrive at Ottawa, as our fteamboat has been lofing time. 

On our arrival at Ottawa laft night, about eight o'clock, we drove Sept. iS. 



30 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. i8, by omnibus to the principal hotel, called the " Ruffell Houfe," where 
we obtained apartments. After partaking of breakfaft in the morn- 
ing, we took a ftroll through a portion of the city, the two principal 
thoroughfares of which are called Sparks and Rideau Streets. We 
vifited the two Houfes of Parliament : the Upper Houfe is compofed 
of about feventy members, and the Lower Houfe of two hundred 
members. The public departments of the Dominion have their offices 
in thefe buildings, which are built in three feparate ranges overlooking 
the Ottawa River, and have a commanding appearance : they are juft 
being finiflied, and are all built of ftone and marble, the latter material 
being obtained from quarries in the neighbourhood. We next vifited 
the Falls of the Ottawa at Chaudiere. Thefe falls are very fine, but 
not equal in refpeiSl of height to thofe we faw at Montmorencie, 
although the volume of water is greater, as nearly the whole of the 
river, which is much larger than the St Charles, flows over the pre- 
cipice. A portion of the ftream a little way above the falls is dam- 
med, fo as to fupply various large faw-mills, two or three of which 
we vifited : that belonging to Meffrs Parley & Parry is one of the 
finefl faw-mills in Ottawa, the chief feat of the lumber trade in 
Canada. All dealers in wood or timber in this country are defignated 
lumber merchants. The faw-mills, which are erefled on each fide 
of the river, are wholly driven by water, a power which is greatly 
utilized in America and Canada. Thefe mills fupply all parts of the 
country with wood ready cut up for houfe-building purpofes, &c., 
befides exporting to other countries, via Montreal and Quebec, large 
quantities of cut timber. The city of Ottawa is yet in a very primi- 
tive ftate ; but, having been made the capital city of the Canadian 
Dominion, it will in all probability improve both in fize and appear- 
ance in the courfe of a very few years. Rapidity of progrefs is the 
order of the day in the New World ; indeed, towns feem to fpring up 
and rife into importance with magical celerity. Such is the fpirit of 
enterprife abroad in this country, that the hamlet of to-day becomes 
the town of to-morrow, and the city of a year later ! The annual 
Agricultural Show being open at the time of our vifit, we went to fee 
it. The exhibition was interefling, although, when compared to fuch 
fhows at home, not very grand ; but it is improving and extending 



TIIK UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 3( 

year by year. All kinds of agricultural material both for cultivation Sept. i8. 
and amenity were exhibited — horfes, cattle, flieep, pigs, dogs, and 
poultry, as well as carriages, fewing machines, and various agricul- 
tural implements. Several Scotchmen who had " exhibits " on the 
ground were very glad to fee us, and fhewed us every attention. We 
found that fome of the Glafgow friends who came over with us in the 
" Ruffia" had been here three days ago — viz., Meffrs Moffat, M'Ewan, 
Galbraith, and the two Kidftons ; and to-day Mr and Mrs Arthur and 
Mr Stott have arrived at this hotel. Off to bed at nine r.M., as we 
require to be up to-morrow morning at fix o'clock. 

After taking an early breakfaft, we ftarted at 7.30 for Prefcott, Sept. 19. 
intending to take the fteamboat there at half-paft nine o'clock to 
Kingfton, for the purpofe of failing through the thoufand ifles of the 
St Lawrence, and at Kingfton we propofed taking the train to Toronto, 
which would be paffing about one o'clock to-morrow morning (Fri- 
day). Upon our arrival at Prefcott we found that the fteamboat, 
which had to come from Montreal, was likely to be three or four hours 
behind time, and, as the day was rather wet, we fixed upon taking a 
train direfl from Prefcott to Toronto, which we did about half-paft one 
o'clock. On our way from Prefcott we faw the St Lawrence on our 
left, and near Kingfton we obferved feveral of the piclurefque ifles 
which form the great group fo much admired by travellers. We 
touched at various towns, among others Brookville, Landfdowne, 
Kingftone, Belleville, Cobourg, Port Hope, and Whitby. The country 
along the north fhore of Lake Ontario from Prefcott to Toronto is very 
fertile, and generally well cleared of the original plantations. The 
houfes along the routes we have been travelling, it is noticeable, are 
nearly all built of wood, and both in the villages and in the interior of 
the country this material, fo ufeful and fo near at hand, is conftantly 
utilized, not only to ere6l the log hut of the newly-arrived emigrant, 
but alfo the more elegant frame houfe of the well-to-do fettler who, 
having overcome his early difficulties, is now branching into the 
lu.xury of a more elegant home. 

Having, on our arrival at Toronto this morning, taken apartments Scpi. 20. 



32 SOUVENIR OF A TOUK IN 

Sept. 20. at the Queen's Hotel, we enjoyed a few hours' reft before being called 
to breakfaft, after partaking of which we proceeded to ftroU along 
King Street and Yonge Street, which are the two principal ftreets of 
the city. At twelve o'clock Mrs Orr (my wife's fifter) and her two 
children, Minnie and Joan, called at the hotel to fee me, when we went 
out together to view the town, and paffed the time in doing fo till 
two o'clock, after which we returned to the hotel to dinner. Din- 
ner being over, we proceeded to the railway depot (as all railway 
ftations are called both in Canada and the United States), where 
we met Mr Orr. We then all walked out and infpefted part of 
the harbour and the termini of the various railways which touch at 
Toronto. The new Union depot prefently being built to accommo- 
date the traffic of the following companies — viz., the Grand Trunk, 
the Great Weftern, the Toronto, Grey & Bruce, the Northern Rail- 
way of Canada, and the Toronto and Nipiffing Railways — is a very 
fplendid ftrufture, and when completed will be the fineft building of 
the kind in the Dominion for railway purpofes. Arranged that Mr 
and Mrs Orr and their children fliould all meet me to-morrow night 
at the Clifton Hotel, Niagara Falls. At four o'clock I returned to 
the Queen's Hotel and met the Meffrs- Hendrie and Captain Dick, 
the proprietor of the houfe, with whom we had agreed to drive 
for a couple of hours in the country. We proceeded firft to the 
Oueen's Park, through which there are feveral good roads fhaded 
with trees. About the centre of the ground are the buildings of 
the Toronto Univerfity, a portion of which we were fliewn over ; 
the tower or fpire of the building is 120 feet high, and the avenues 
of trees leading to the city are worth feeing. Afterwards we vifited 
Ofo'ood Hill, where the Law Courts are held. We then drove out 
through Yonge Street for four miles. This ftreet is faid to be about 
35 miles long, ftretching out, of courfe, far into the country — all 
the way, in fa6l, to Lake Simcoe ! Think of that, and confider that 
about eighty years ago the fite of this bufy town was occupied by the 
wigwams of two Indian families ! In the courfe of our drive we paffed 
a two-ftorey houfe right in the centre of the ftreet. It was in the a&. 
of being removed to another fite. Although to a European this forms 
a ftrange fpeclacle, it is not an uncommon fight in thi.s part of the 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. ^3 

globe — fome of the largeft houfes, hotels, and warehoufes of America Sept. 20. 
having been, from time to time, removed either from one ftreet to 
another or backwards or forwards as the cafe may be. Stopped at a 
houfe and drank a glafs of champagne with Captain Dick, who had 
very kindly brought a bottle or two in the carriage. Afterwards we 
called at a nurfery and ate a few grapes and peaches, tafting at the fame 
time fome other fruit. We reached our hotel fhortly after fix o'clock, 
and, two hours afterwards, I called on Mr and Mrs Orr at their refi- 
dence, and after pafTing a pleafant hour with them, came home to bed. 

Breakfalled at fix o'clock, and an hour afterwards went on board Sept. 21 
a fteamboat, on which we croffed Lake Ontario to Lewifton, a very 
pleafant three hours' fail. At Lewifton we got a train on the New 
York Central Railway for Niagara Falls, and arrived at the Clifton 
Houfe Hotel at eleven o'clock A.M. We at once hired a carriage, and 
drove to all the principal fights both on the Canadian and American 
fides of the River Niagara — fuch as the Whirlpool below the Railway 
Sufpenfion Bridge, the Devil's Hole, Goat Ifland, from which we ob- 
tained a fplendid view of the rapids immediately above the Horfe Shoe 
or Canadian Fall, alfo the American Fall, and the three fifter iflands 
which ftand detached among the rapids, but are conne6led with each 
other by fufpended wire bridges. The Falls of Niagara are of the 
wonders of the world, no fight having been fo often defcribed or fo 
much written about. We were all very much impreffed with the 
mighty grandeur of the falling waters, and lingered long viewing the 
fcene at all its points of vantage. Returning again to the interefting 
fight after dinner, we walked along the Canadian fide of the river in 
order to obtain another view of the two large falls, as well as the Bridal 
Wreath Fall and the Cave of the Winds Fall. I fhall not attempt 
to give you any formal defcription of the Falls of Niagara, which 
are undoubtedly the greatefl natural wonders of America. So many 
accounts of the majeftic fcene have been publiflied by well-qualified 
writers, that all the world is now familiarifed with "the thunder 
of waters," which can be heard at a great diftance as one approaches 
or leaves the place. It is difficult to contemplate this wondrous mafs 
of falling water without being awe-ftricken, or without a fenfe of 

F 



34 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 21. perfonal infignificance ftealing over one as he gazes at the mighty 
elemental phenomena fpread around. All the Scottifli water-falls or 
Swifs catara6ls that you have feen or read about are, to ufe a homely 
fimile, as one drop of water to a bucketful, when compared- with the 
great rufli and mighty volume of the Falls @( Niagara. The figures 
and ftatiftics of the world-renowned fcene are of confiderable interefl, 
efpecially to perfons who have not had the advantage of viewing it. 
The Niagara River, on which is fituated the falls, is a part of the 
boundary which feparates America from Canada ; it is formed from the 
accumulated waters of fome of the great lakes, coming laft of all from 
Lake Ontario. The falls occur at a diftance of 22 miles from Lake Erie, 
and are divided into two — one, the American Fall, is 900 feet wide and 
164 feet high, whilft the other, named the Horfe Shoe or Canadian 
Fall, is 158 feet high and 2000 feet wide, and it has been calculated 
that not lefs than one hundred million tons of water flow over thefe 
giant precipices every hour ! It is no wonder, then, that thoufands of 
people from all parts of the world flock to the Falls of Niagara. 

Sept. 22. My friends, the Hendries, having gone ofi" to Chicago, as previoufly 

arranged, to meet their brother, I was left alone with Mr and Mrs 
Orr and their two girls (who arrived laft night) ; fo about eleven o'clock 
I hired a carriage that we might vifit together the furrounding country, 
both above and below the falls. We drove through Drummondville 
to the burning fulphur fpring, fituated alongfide the upper rapids on 
the Canadian fide of the river, coming back to dinner about three 
o'clock, after which we walked over the new Sufpenfion Bridge to the 
American fide, where we ftrolled about for an hour or more, returning 
to the hotel to tea ; after which, in prefence of Mr and Mrs Orr, I 
wrote up this Diary to date, having arranged with them to vifit Buf- 
falo, which is fituated at a diftance of 25 miles from this place, and 
to which we proceed by railway in the morning. We again met Mr 
and Mrs Arthur and Mr Stott at breakfaft here this morning. 



THE UNITED .STATES AND CANADA. 35 



A DETOUR TO BUFFALO : ST CATHERINE'S. 

Left the Clifton Hotel at 8.30 this morning, and, along with the Sept. 
Orrs, took train from Niagara Falls Station, by New York Central 
Railway, to Buffalo, where we arrived about half-paft ten o'clock. On 
our way we obferved feveral peach and apple orchards in full bearing, 
which looked a pretty fight, and gave additional intereft to the fcene. 
At La Salle Station the platform was nearly covered with willow 
bafkets full of peaches, each containing about one bufhel of 60 lbs. 
weight. An immenfe trade is carried on in peaches in both Canada 
and the United States, where there is a ready market for the fruit. 
They are fold frefh and plump as gathered, but thoufands of bufhels 
are alfo cut up, mixed with fyrup, and fold in cans. The trade mpre- 
ferved, or, as they are called throughout America, " cann'd " fruits of all 
kinds, is increafing amazingly. At Tonananda Station we croffed the 
Erie Canal, which I had formerly feen at Albany and Troy. This 
canal extends from Albany to Buffalo at the eaflern end of Lake 
Erie, a diftance of upwards of three hundred miles, and the chief traffic 
upon it during the navigation feafon (it is, of courfe, frozen over in the 
winter) is in grain, lumber, and other produce brought from the Weft- 
em States to the Atlantic feaboard by way of the Hudfon River from 
Albany to New York. There are two direft lines of railway from 
Buffalo to New York — viz., the Erie and the New York Central — and 
yet a third is now in progrefs to run along the north fhore of the 
Hudfon River, but it is thought that even when this new railway is 
completed, the three lines will not be fufbcient to convey the rapidly 
increafing produce of the weft. On our arrival at Buffalo we proceeded 
on foot along Main Street, making one or two purchafes by the way, 
to the Tifft Houfe Hotel. Buffalo is a large and populous city, 
being the third town in point of fize in the State of New York, and 
contains 1 18,000 inhabitants. It is fituated at the mouth of Buffalo 
Creek, at the head of the Niagara River, at the eaftern end of Lake 
Erie. The harbour is a fine one, and the city has a water frontage 
extending five miles in length, partly on the river and partly on the 
lake. It is a very bufy city Buffalo, as its fituation enables it to do a 



2,6 SOUV^ENIR OK A TOUR IN 

Sept. 2j. large trade in the lake-borne commerce, nearly three-fourths of which 
muft pafs through in going between the Eafb and the great North Weft 
The buildings in the city are well proportioned ; the ftreets wide 
and ftraight, and, as ufual in moft American cities, they are laid out 
at right angles. There are numerous public buildings and libraries in 
Buffalo, and more than feventy churches. When I ftate that the popu- 
lation of the city was increafed in the ten years from i860 to 1870 by 
37,000 perfons, it will give you fome idea of the vaft rate at which the 
United States of America are progreffmg. As dinner was not ferved 
till one o'clock, we ftroUed out again to look about us. At two o'clock 
we took a carriage for an hour's drive, paffing along Delaware Avenue, 
where we faw many ftylifli private houfes, built chiefly of brick or ftone ; 
returning by the eaftern end of Main Street and along Swan Street", we 
reached the railway depot at 3 P.M., going by way of Sufpenfion Bridge 
(Niagara Falls), per Great Weflern Railway of Canada, to St Cathe- 
rine's, where I write this, in the Welland Houfe Hotel. In croffmg the 
Sufpenfion Bridge we were gratified with another fine but diftant view 
of all the falls. As the train paffes over the river very flowly, one 
has time to enjoy the fcenery from the platform at the end of the car. 
Seeing the great falls above and the boiling rapids below the bridge, 
is certainly a wonderfully impreffive fight. At Thorald Station, nine 
miles below Sufpenfion Bridge, we croffed the Welland Canal, which 
forms another link between the weftern great lakes, via Lake Ontario, 
by which the ever increafing produce of the weflern United States is 
alfo tranfported, by Canadian waters, to Quebec. The weftern great 
lakes referred to are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Luke Huron, 
which is connefted with Lake Michigan by a canal called Sault-fte- 
Marie. Lake Huron empties into Lake St Clair, the latter into the 
Detroit River flowing into Lake Erie, the latter again, as has been 
explained, by the Niagara River over the falls into Lake Ontario. 
Shortly after arriving at the hotel here, I had a nice tepid fait water 
bath — the fait water being fupplied by a natural fpring 270 feet under 
the furface. I was attended by a nigger called Henry, alms the 
" Do6tor," thoroughly up to his bufinefs, and who " kneaded " me and 
bathed me to perfeftion. He faid I was altogether in fine condition, 
only I would perhaps be all the better of taking a ftave out of 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 37 

my bicker ! Who could ha\'e expeacd to hear a Scotch faying like Sept. 23 
that from a nigger ? We were all very much pleafed with the day's 
excurfion, the pleafures of which were greatly enhanced by fine 
weather. Retired to bed about nine o'clock. 



FROM HAMILTON TO LONDON. 

Before leaving St Catherine's, I muft pay it the compliment of Sept. 24. 
faying that it is a very pretty town — not large, but with fine 
drives around it, in a nicely wooded country. Miffed feeing Mr and 
Mrs Arthur : they had been here during the day, but had left before 
our arrival. Left St Catherine's at half-paft feven for Hamilton, 
where I arrived about nine o'clock. We halted at Grimfby by the 
way, where I had a few minutes' chat with Mr Orr's father, who is 
ftation agent there : and at Hamilton Mr W. Orr parted with us to 
proceed to Toronto. Met Mr William K. Muir, general fuperintend- 
ent of the Great Weftern Railway of Canada, who afked Mrs Orr, her 
two children, and myfelf to meet him at his houfe at one o'clock, as 
Mrs Muir was expefting us to dine and fpend the day. Proceeded to 
the Royal Hotel, in James Street, where I fecured apartments for the 
night : but this was only accomplifhed after fome difficulty, the town 
being crowded with people from all parts of the country, who had 
come in to fee an exhibition of horfes, cattle, pigs, poultry, fruit, and 
agricultural implements, as well as all kinds of cloths, furs, few- 
ing machines, &c. Dined with Mrs Muir, and after dinner drove 
along fome of the principal ftreets, fuch as King Street and James 
Street, in the firft of which are fituated all the principal fliops. We 
afterwards proceeded to the Exhibition grounds, where what is called 
the " Cryftal Palace " is fituated, in the centre of a large park. This 
Exhibition or Agricultural Show is open to the whole province of 
Ontario, and is held "time about" in four towns — namely, Hamil- 
ton, London, Ottawa, and Montreal ; but I may mention that thefe 
tciwns have an annual iliow of their own in addition. The Cr\-ftal 



38 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 24. Palace is not a large edifice, but it is very fubftantially built, and on this 
occafion contained the fineft fliow of fruit that I ever remember to have 
feen either in Great Britain or on the Continent. It confifted chiefly 
of apples, pears, peaches, open-air grown melons, and other fruits. 
The exhibition of fewing-machines, workmen's tools, manufaftures 
of various kinds in leather, cloth, and other fabrics, was alfo very 
good. I paid fome attention to the quick-trotting horfes, which 
were exhibited in pairs in a light machine, and driven round a large 
circular fpace about 250 yards in diameter, the fpeed of fome of the 
animals being remarkable. The fliow of Ayrfliire cows was alfo very 
good ; indeed, confidering that that particular breed has keen imported, 
it was remarkable. There was an immenfe fliow of pigs, far furpaffmg 
any fhow of the kind I ever witneffed before, but, having feen this Exhi- 
bition, I can eafily underftand where the long trains of live pigs, fent to 
the Eaft, New York, &c., come from. The farmers here prefer to feed 
pigs on Indian corn and other grain, becaufe they make moft profit 
by doing fo. I may mention that we faw the Hon. Ifaac Buchanan 
and his wife, a fifter of Mr Jarvie of Glafgow, in the fhow grounds. 
Drove back to Mrs Muir's, and drank tea along with Mr Muir and 
their children. Spent the evening with them until about nine o'clock, 
after which home to our hotel to bed. 

Sept. 25.'' A wet morning! We therefore were not in a hurry to leave our 

hotel, where we had a call from Mr Muir and Mr Steele, a fhipbuilder 
of Ayr, who has come to Canada on a vifit to fome of his relatives. 
Parted with them, and then called on Mr Stanbury.whom I found ftand- 
ing at the door of his warehoufe. Next called on Mr Leggat, of Wood 
& Leggat, who have an ironmongery ftore, and condufl a very large 
bufinefs. Mr Leggat fhewed ine through the premifes, and mentioned 
that their flock of ironmongery, tools, fleel, and ftores of various kinds, 
was worth at leafl ^60,000 fterling. Their trade is chiefly wholefale 
— the retail trade being of little importance. Called on Mr George 
Martin, an old clerk of mine, who is now bookkeeper in the dry goods 
ftore of M'Lellan & Co., 53 King Street, Wefl;. At the bank to-day I 
was charged 8 per cent, for difcounting my circular notes — viz., four dol- 
lars for each ^^20 cafhed. After making another call on Mrs Muir to fay 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 39 

good-bye, and to thank her for much attention and kindnefs, we came Sept. 25. 
back to our hotel, fettled our bill, and departed to the railway depot. 
I am much pleafed with Hamilton ; it is a very nice town indeed : the 
ftreets are wide, although not well kept in the centre, and, as ufual in all 
the Canadian towns I have vifited, the fideways are laid with wooden 
planks, fometimes laid acrofs, and at other times lengthways, which 
muft add to the general danger in the cafe of large fires. It may be 
mentioned that a principal feature in fome of the flreets is the appear- 
ance of fingle and in some inftances double rows of trees on each fide. 
We were detained at the depot a couple of hours, owing to an accident 
to a train, caufed by the breaking of an axle, but at length, all being 
made right, I parted with Mrs Orr and her children, who were going 
home, and then mounted the cars of my own train, which was to 
carry me to London. Having sele6led a parlour car, I found that 
dinner might be obtained in the hotel car adjoining, and, accordingly, 
I made one of the party of about a dozen who were to dine, and a 
moft excellent meal we had, confifting of fine tender chickens, juicy 
chops, and potato chips, finiflied off with a cup of coffee, the charge for 
all I had being i dollar 15 cents, which is equal to 4s. lod. of Englifh 
money. Being thus able to fecure a hot dinner, cooked in a railway 
train going at the rate of 30 miles an hour, was a novelty to me and fome 
of the other travellers. When may we expe6l to have fuch a novelty 
in the ride between Hamilton and London in Britain as I experienced 
between Hamilton and London in America ? On our way we paffed 
various towns, and, among others, a very pifturefque one called Dundas, 
Harrifburg, where there is a junction for trains proceeding to South- 
ampton on Lake Huron, Paris, and Woodftock. From Hamilton to 
London the country is pretty well cultivated, the old plantations 
moftly cleared away, and, generally fpeaking, as far as the eye can 
reach, the appearance of the land, as feen from the train, is very much 
like the "Old Country," as England and Scotland are ufually called here. 
There are fine orchards near Dundas and Paris, and the general fcene 
looks attraftive to the fettler, and for fettlers (immigrants) of all kinds 
there is abundance of fpace in the Dominion of Canada, where thou- 
fands and thoufands of acres afford room for the induftrious hufband- 
inan and mechanic. The train arrived at London about half-paft 



40 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

.Sept. 25. eight o'clock, and I was received by Mr John Walker, who had been 
waiting for me, and who infifted on carrying me off to his own houfe, 
and not allowing me to proceed to the Tecumftie Hotel, as was my 
intention. I met at his houfe Sheriff Munro and another young 
gentleman, a German ; remained chatting with Mrs Walker, who had 
been to a dinner party, and the others till about eleven o'clock, when 
I went to bed. 

Sept. 26. Up betimes this morning in order to finifli and fend off a letter to 

my wife and the dear ones at home, this being the day for the defpatch 
of the mail via Quebec. Having finifhed my letter and enclofed in 
it a portion of my Diary, I went to breakfaft, which was arranged 
for nine o'clock. Afterwards I drove with Mr Walker, in his open 
machine with pair of horfes, to explore the town and neighbourhood, 
as alfo to vifit his oil work.s, which are very extenfive, producing 
2400 barrels of refined oil weekly — a quantity which is equal to fully 
100,000 gallons. Sulphuric acid is alfo produced at thefe works, 
likewife vitriol and fuperphofphate from bones, as well as a mineral 
called " appatite." After driving through the principal ftreets of the 
town, Richmond Street and North Street, and feeing two building 
lots Mr Walkei? had recently bought, one of 1 1 5 acres and the other of 
72 acres, I took the train at one o'clock for Detroit. London is a 
very nice town, with the ufual double and fmgle rows of trees along 
each fide of the refidential ftreets, the population being about 20,000. 



TO CHICAGO BY WAY OF DETROIT. 

Left at one o'clock by train for Detroit, and on the way we paffed 
feveral towns, among others Appin, Glencoe, and Bothwell. Saw Lake 
St Clair on the right, with a few fliips moving about on its waters. 
This lake is not nearly fo large as fome of the others I have mentioned, 
and empties, by means of Detroit River, into Lake Erie. Arrived at 



thp: umteu states and Canada. 41 

Windfor, a town oppofite to Detroit, and feparated from it by the river, Sept. 26. 
and as Detroit (Michigan) is a portion of the United States, our bag- 
gage required to be fubmitted to the examination of the authorities. 
Having croffed the river by a fleam ferry boat to Detroit, on arrival 
there I hired a carriage fo as to view the place, and have a drive through 
the principal ftreets and avenues of the town — the Wooded Avenue, 
Fourth Street, &c. Detroit is a fplendid town, and, I think, not even 
excepting Montreal, the fineft I have yet feen on this continent — 
New York, of courfe, excepted. Detroit has been fancifully named 
" The City of the Straits," and is one of the oldeft towns in America, 
having been founded by the French as a miffionary ftation in 1670. 
It is interefting to know that Detroit has been planned in a peculiar 
way, having been laid out originally as a circle, with avenues radiating 
from a common centre ; and there are a number of little triangular 
parks which are very ornamental to the city, which is laid out along- 
fide the river for a length of about three miles, and looked to me to be 
more a refidential city than a bufinefs place. The town has a great 
many fine fchools, and an admirable fyftem of education. The City 
Hall is a fplendid ftrufture, being built in the centre of a very large 
fpace of ground, not exaftly a fquare, into which feveral ftreets, feven in 
all, I think, debouch. In this block of ground a monument has been 
erefted in commemoration of the late war, and on the top of the ftruc- 
ture, which is about 50 feet high, a ftatue of Liberty has been placed, 
and underneath, at equal diftances round the monument, are other 
four allegorical figures. The population of Detroit is upwards of 
100,000 perfons. Vifited an hotel and partook of fupper, and, 
having a couple of hours to fpare, brought up this Diary while 
waiting for the train due at 9.40 P.M. to Chicago, a city which I am 
anxious to fee, and at which I expeft to arrive at eight o'clock to- 
morrow morning. I have engaged a berth in a deeping car, and hope 
to have a trial of that way of travelling to-night. It appears that the 
train from the eaft is about an hour late, fo, writing in the waiting- 
room, I may add a line or two to this record. Two fleeping draw- 
ing-room cars having been put on at Detroit Station for Chicago, I 
got the berth I had afked for at a coft of two dollars, and, having 
undreffed, went to bed in the carriage while it was waiting in the 



42 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 26. ftation. The train darted for Chicago about eleven o'clock, and, 
after a pleafant run, during which I enjoyed a good fleep, arrived 
there about ten o'clock in the morning. 

Sept. 27. While on the way from Detroit I found the fleeping car very com- 

fortable, bearing a confiderable refemblance, as regards dreffing conve- 
niences, to a berth on board of a firft-clafs fteamboat. Boots are brufhed, 
foap and towels are provided for wafliing and dreffing, as well as other 
conveniences for making a comfortable toilet ; in faft, a man may 
obtain a good night's reft during a long journey, and be ready to 
tranfaft bufinefs immediately on the arrival of the train at his defli- 
nation — indeed, I noticed feveral gentlemen who evidentl}' had fuch 
intention. On my arrival at Chicago I drove in an omnibus to the 
Sherman Houfe, where I found, upon looking at the Strangers' Book, 
the Meffrs Hendrie were flaying. Afterwards, whilft driving about, 
I was much flruck by the prominent evidences of the devaflation 
caufed by the great fire in October laft year, as alfo by the flrenu- 
ous and very wonderful efforts which have been made to repair its 
ravages. New and handfome buildings are being rapidly erefled, and 
I have no doubt that, in a couple of years from this time, all traces of 
the great conflagration will, fo far as covering the old ground with 
better, larger, and more fubftantial buildings is concerned, be entirely 
effaced. All the new houfes are being built of flone and brick : fuch 
wooden ereftions as were haftily put up to meet emergencies im- 
mediately after the fire will ultimately be replaced by fubftantial 
edifices. Any perfon doubting the energy of the American character 
fliould vifit Chicago, where he will fee how men rife to an occafion. 
In fome places, after fuch a calamity as was experienced a year ago 
in this city, the people would have fat down amid the afhes and 
given way to defpair ; but in Chicago, fo foon as the fire had been 
got under or had burnt itfelf out, men began at once to a& — to re- 
plan," to rebuild — and now the city is rifing from its afhes like a 
phcenix, more wonderful than ever : many of the new buildings being 
like palaces. 

After breakfall:, Mr John 1 lendrie having arrived, we went out, and. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 43 

obtaining money from the bank, called at the Cunard Office and Sept. 27. 
fecured berths in the fteamfhip " Cuba," which fails to Liverpool 
from New York on Wednefday, 23d 06lober. Afterwards, ac- 
companied by Mr Hendrie, I called on Widow Ruffel, and had the 
pleafure of handing over to her the amount of the fubfcriptions I had 
received on her behalf — viz., one hundred and fourteen dollars, a fum 
equal to ;f2i fterling. The poor widow, who feems a moft refpeft- 
able and induftrious perfon, and fix of her children who were 
prefent, feemed very grateful for this unexpefled gift, for which they 
thanked me very warmly indeed. Having a carriage with us, we 
vifited a grain elevator, one of the largeft in Chicago, fituated between 
the River Michigan and the railway. We were taken by a perfon in 
charge to the top of the building, where we faw a method of elevating, 
weighing, ftoring, and loading fliips or railway cars with grain which 
was new to us, and with which we were highly pleafed. The elevator 
or building which we vifited belongs to a Mr Buckingham, and is fo 
capacious that it can ftore one million and a half bufhels of Indian 
corn or wheat, and one and three quarter million quarters of oats. 
A veffel of from 500 to 600 tons burthen can be loaded in about 
three hours, and every bufhel of the grain be weighed before being 
fhipped, the weighing being accompliflied by large weighing machines 
placed at every hopper, which can weigh, as a general rule, 350 bufhels 
of oats or Indian corn at a time. Of courfe the grain is not in bags, 
but entirely loofe, and the elevators are fitted with fcoops, on the 
fame plan as dredging boats on the Clyde. The Board of Trade 
of Chicago has promulgated very ftringent regulations as to the 
weighing and transfer of the grain ftored in the elevators, but in fpite of 
thefe rules I fear there is confiderable loofenefs in the bufinefs, and that 
purchafers do not always obtain their parcel according to fample. I 
fhould fancy there are nearly twenty of thefe " elevators " or granaries 
in Chicago, and I was told that their ftorage capacity was equal to 
11,000,000 bufliels of grain. As many as 17,000,000 bufhels of wheat 
reach this bufy city in a year. Drove through other parts of the city 
in order to fee ftill more of the ruins, and obferve the a6livity difplayed 
in the re-ereflion of the burned portions, and this re-ere6lion is being 
accompliflTed in a wa}' fo fplendid as to excite even the aftonifhment 



44 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IX 

Sept. 27. of former refidents of the fine llreets and avenues. Dined at half-paft 
four o'clock, having previoufly had a tepid bath. Met Mr Hendrie's 
brothers James and William, the latter having been a refident in 
Chicago during the laft twenty-two years. After tea devoted an 
hour or more to writing up this Diary. 

Sept. 28. To-day we were joined after breakfaft by Mr Hendrie's eldeft 

brother, Alexander, who had made a run up from Kentucky to fee his 
brothers. The five of us — that is, Alexander, James, William, and 
John Hendrie (I have placed them in the order of feniority), and 
your humble fervant — then proceeded by ftreet cars to fee other places 
in and around Chicago. We firft drove about fix miles from the 
centre of the city to the Union Stock Yards, a large field contain- 
ing upwards of 200 acres of land, all divided into pens for horfes, 
cattle, fheep, and pigs : the field being interfered by railways at con- 
venient diftances, to facilitate the loading and unloading of the vari- 
ous claffes of animals. We were much amufed by the " ftock tend- 
ers," or young fellows in charge, not exaftly galloping, but gently 
cantering or pacing at the rate of five or fix miles an hour from 
one part of the field to another, flourifhing and cracking their long 
laffo whips as they drive cattle from the railway cars to be weighed 
alive previous to being placed in the enclofures. We faw one lot 
of feventeen cattle driven on to the weighing machine and weighed 
in a body, the aggregate weight of the lot being 18,904 lbs. I fancy 
the railway companies charge their carriage rates by weight ; and 
it is advantageous to know the weight either in buying or felling 
cattle. All the pigs and flieep, after being untrucked, are weighed 
in a fimilar way. On enquiry we learned that, during the feafon, 
145,000 pigs and from 20,000 to 30,000 cattle are received at the 
Union Stock Yards every week, befides large lots of horfes and fheep, 
the numbers of which we did not afcertain. Within the flock yard are 
three artefian wells, which afford a fupply of water to the animals ; one 
of thefe wells has been bored, at a width of five inches, to a depth of 
1050 feet, and the preffure at the outlet, which is about four inches in 
diameter, is fo very ftrong that, by means of a flill fmaller pipe, it is 
raifed to tanks 40 or 50 feet liigh, from which the whole ftock yard is 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 45 

fupplied. We vifited Dexter Racing Park, adjoining the ftock yard, Sept. 28. 
where trotting matches are run, and we alfo vifited the pig-killing eftab- 
lifhment of Meffrs Cuthbert, Bland, & Co., which is near the fhock yard. 
The pig-killing feafon, however, does not commence till the beginning 
of November, when the cold weather fets in. The foreman, in conduc- 
ing us through the eftablifhment, told us that they kill and cure during 
the feafon 5000 pigs daily, and that they employ 600 men at this 
eflablifliment ; and at another they have in the city of Chicago they kill 
and cure half a million pigs every feafon ! The pork-packing bufinefs 
of Chicago employs about fifty firms, who put a fabulous number of 
fwine through their hands annually. In the neighbourhood of the 
ftock yards, towards the fouth, and as far as the eye can reach, the land 
has all been originally prairie land, quite flat and without trees ; very 
different, in the latter refpeft, from thofe lands we have feen in Canada, 
and even weft from Detroit to Chicago ; the ftumps of burned trees 
ftill remaining in thefe diftrifts fliowing that the progrefs of clearing, 
fubfoiling, and cultivating, has yet to be gone through. Labour is 
what is wanted in Canada, as well as in the Weftern States of 
America, in order to render the land productive. On our way from 
the pig-killing eftablifliment we obferved a gentleman's dwelling-houfe, 
two ftoreys in height, with funk floor, in procefs of being placed in 
pofition, by means of a multitude of fcrews, &c., after having been 
removed from its former fite, which might probably be a mile or two 
diftant from where it was now being fet down. Many of the largeft 
buildings in Chicago had, both before and fince the fire, changed 
their fite by means of the ingenuity and labour of thofe who con- 
trafl to do fuch things. We next vifited a cow-killing eftablifliment, 
where, during the feafon, the proprietor and his affiftants kill, cure 
partly, but generally fend off frefh, from 370 to 400 cattle daily ; they 
had commenced the feafon to-day, and killed 102 animals in the fore- 
noon, juft before our arrival. We waited for a little time, and faw the 
men fpearing fome twelve or fourteen animals, and I muft fay they got 
through their work with great rapidity, going about their bufinefs in a 
fyftematic way ; but I will fpare you the details of fuch wholefale killing. 
Returned to dinner, and, rain having fallen fince midday, we kept our 
hotel in the eveifing. Pofl:cd a few new fpapers to friends at home. 



46 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 29. After breakfaft I went with Mr John Hendrie and heard a fermon 
preached in Third Church, Carpenter Street. Afterwards we walked 
through a portion of the city in orderto viewfomeof the recently erefted 
buildings, and to look at thofe in progrefs of ereflion. Three of the 
befl: bufinefs ftreets are Madifon Street, Randolph Street, and Wafhing- 
ton Street, which all run parallel to each other ; next there are Clark 
and State Streets, alfo running parallel to each other — thefe are alfo 
excellent bufinefs ftreets. Among the new buildings ere6led or nearly 
finifhed fince the date of the fire I noticed many that were models of 
convenience and of fine proportions — indeed, I have not feen better 
buildings anywhere. The projefting cornices on the top of almoft 
every block or fingle building are made of zinc or galvanized iron, 
according to a defign furnifhed by the architeft, and look well ; of 
courfe they are all painted to imitate ftone work. One is apt to 
wonder how the money requifite for the ereftion of fuch fine buildings 
has been obtained ; but on making fome inquiries on this point I was 
told that both capital and labour had been abundant ever fince the 
fire. The infurance offices of America and Great Britain were prompt 
to fettle all claims, and money has been freely given on loan or mort- 
gage by capltalifts in the United States, Great Britain, France, 
Germany, and other countries, while at the fame time workmen of 
every trade have flocked in from all parts of the world. In a very 
few years Chicago will, without doubt, be one of the fineft bufinefs 
or commercial cities in the world, as it is the great emporium for the 
diflribution of grain and cattle from various States many hundred miles 
diftant — amongft others Kentucky, Tenneffee, Texas, Nebrafka, Iowa, 
and Miffouri. All the food ftufifs received in Chicago can be re- 
diflributed either by water in fhip-loads or by railway to New York 
and other eaflern ports, fuch as Bofbon, Montreal, and Quebec, with 
great celerity. It may alfo be ftated, in connexion with the American 
commiffariat, that a confiderable tonnage of dead meat packed in ice 
is carried by the railways to New York and other places in the Eafl : 
we frequently faw cars laden with fuch produce. 

Chicago, which is fituated in the State of Illinois, has a population 
Lflimatcd to number over 300,000. Confidering that forty years ago 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 47 

the name of the town was not to be found on the beft maps of America, Sept. 29. 
the growth of the place has been indeed wonderful. It was fo lately 
as the fpring of 1837 that a formal charter was given to the town 
making it a city, and the population of Chicago in that year numbered 
4170 fouls ; feven years previoufly (1830) the population confifted of 
170 perfons ; but by the year 1850 Chicago contained no lefs than 
29,963 individuals. The official cenfus of 1870 gives the return of the 
population as 299,327. The intelleftual and moral progr'efs of the 
people has kept pace with their material enterprife, for Chicago is rich 
in churches and educational inftitutions, one of thefe being a fine uni- 
verfity, with a grand library and a moft powerful telefcope. There 
are feveral excellently-condufled daily newfpapers, and one or two 
luxurious theatres are in courfe of being built. Altogether, Chicago 
is a ftriking place, and may perhaps be claffed as the chief artificial 
wonder of the New World. The city during the hot feafon is very 
much infefted by mofquitoes, and had not my bed in this hotel been 
well protefted by curtains devifed for the purpofe, I muft have fuffered 
feverely. Mr Hendrie's brother James has been very much bitten by 
thefe infe6ls during the lafl two nights, and to-day his hands and face 
are all covered with fpots, as if he had been afflifled with an eruption 
of fmall-pox, in confequence of his bed not being protefted by curtains. 
To-morrow we leave at 10-15 for Q^incy, via the Chicago, Burlington, 
and Quincy Railway, intending to fail down the Miffiffippi River from 
Quincy to St Louis. To bed about nine o'clock. 



FROM CHICAGO TO ST LOUIS. 

This morning, after the neceffary operation of paying our hotel bill Sept. 30. 
had been gone through, we proceeded to the railway ftation and took 
tickets for Quincy, for which place we ftarted at 10.15. After paffing 
various places, fuch as Mendola, Galva, &c., we reached Galefburg, 
163 miles from Chicago, about five o'clock, and partook of dinner in 
the reltaurant at the ftation. Leaving Galefburg, we paffed Saint 



48 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Sept. 30. Auguftine, Prairie City, Bullinell, Camp Point, and other places, arriving 
at Quincy about half-paft ten o'clock in the evening. After giving up 
our luggage tokens to a perfon employed at the hotel, we drove off in 
the omnibus belonging to the eftablifliment to Quincy Houfe, leaving 
a part of our train to proceed to Kanfas City, which it does by crofs- 
ing the Miffiffippi on a bridge at this place. Quincy is 263 miles fouth- 
weft from Chicago, and contains a population of between 18,000 and 
19,000. On our way from Chicago we paffed thoufands of acres of 
Indian corn quite ripe but uncut, it being the cuflom, when the crops 
are heavy and confequently cheap, to allow the ftraw to remain on the 
ground, the ears only of the corn being gathered, and being fo left, 
the ftraw of courfe rots, and is ploughed into the ground as manure ; 
again, when the crops are good, and corn only realifes the very 
fmall price of fay from 15 to 20 cents a bufhel, the farmers, having 
moveable fences, drive their cattle and pigs in upon the crops, 
and fo eat them as they grow in the field. The ftandard weight of 
cleaned Indian corn is 56 lbs., but a buOiel in the hufk will weigh 
about 70 lbs. Each bufhel of the corn eaten by a feeding pig will 
add about 8 or 9 lbs. to its weight, fo that farmers eafily calculate 
whether it will pay them better to fell their corn in the open market 
or feed their pigs with it ; when pork is felling, as at the farm grofs 
weight, at three cents — equal to three halfpence of our money — per 
pound, then Indian corn is worth 25 cents per bufliel. A great por- 
tion of the land we paffed through having originally been prairie land, 
is very flat and level, producing, however, excellent crops. 

Oct. I. Up this morning about feven o'clock, that I might have a ftroU 

through fome of the principal flreets before the breakfaft hour. 
Vifited the public market, that I might afcertain the prices of butcher 
meat, which are as follows : — For beft boiling beef, 4d. per pound. ; 
good beef fleaks, 5d. ; very befb felefted pope's-eye fteak, 6d. The 
town, I learn, is en fete to-day on accoun.t of the fuccefsful opening 
of about 70 miles (Quincy to Kirkville) of the Quincy, Miffouri, and 
Pacific Railway, a line which, when completed; will be about 280 
miles in length. There is a flreet-car railway, as ufual, in Quincy. 
We took breakfaft about eight o'clock, and then walked to the river 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 49 

fide to procure the fteamboat for St Louis due at nine o'clock ; but, as 
ufual, the boat was behind time — a too common occurrence both on 
river and rail in this country — and we had to wait till twelve o'clock 
ere the veffel put in an appearance, and even after arrival the cargo 
had to be difcharged and coals and a new cargo taken in ; therefore 
it was about one o'clock ere we were able to ftart. Dined at two 
o'clock, dinner being included in the fare of three dollars to St Louis. 
On our paffage we touched at Hannibal, a town on the Miffouri fide 
of the river ; alfo at Louifiana, Clarkfville, and Falmouth, all on the 
fame fide. The fteamboat was quite crowded with paffengers, moft of 
them being on their way to the great State Fair of St Louis, which 
begins on Thurfday firft, and continues for nearly a fortnight. About 
forty of the paffengers, of whom we were four, had to fleep in cots put 
up in the faloon. On our way down the river we grounded two or 
three times on fandbanks, the river from Quincy as far down as Alton, 
140 miles diftant, being very difficult to navigate on account of the 
general fliallownefs of the water, which is full of fliifting fands and bars. 
We were informed that at prefent the ftream was very low, but that it 
fometimes overflows its banks, on which occafions the navigation is 
eafier. Got to my cot about half-paft nine, previoufly giving my 
money and watch in charge to the clerk of the boat, that official 
having intimated that there were thieves and pickpockets on board, on 
their way, probably, to the fair at St Louis. During the night our 
veffel ftuck on a fandbar, and was in confequence delayed for three 
hours. About five o'clock in the morning we were roufed by the fteward, 
that the faloon might be cleared and put in order for breakfaft ; at 
this time we were juft paffing the mouth of the Illinois River, which 
is navigable for 250 miles up to a town called Lafcelle, after which, 
by means of a canal, the navigation is continued to Lake Michigan 
at Chicago, a diftance from the Miffiffippi of 300 miles. Having 
turned out according to order, we- were much pleafed to find the 
fcenery on either bank of the river grander than that we faw yefter- 
day — more bluffs, rocks, and wooded banks to break the monotony. 
Breakfafted about feven o'clock, and at nine touched at Alton, a town 
on the Illinois fide, which appears to be the feat of a confiderable 
trade, and from which there is a branch railway to St Louis and 

H 



50 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Other places. This day, hke yefterday, is really delightful — a flrong 
glow of funfliine, but with a fine breeze to temper it. I have been 
writing the foregoing in the wheelroom, a glafs enclofure in which the 
pilot manages the fliip, fleers, flows, and ftops the engine, the captain 
not having charge of the failing department. The wheelroom is on 
the fifth floor from where the deck cargo is ftowed, being about 40 
feet above the furface of the water, and, in confequence, commands 
a fine view of the river, its various iflets, and the country round about. 
Five miles below Alton we paffed the mouth of the great River Mis- 
fouri, another tributary of the Miffiffippi, and an exceedingly muddy 
river, fo much fo that, from its junction with the mighty Miffiffippi, 
down to New Orleans and even beyond, the whole waters are quite 
difcoloured and muddy. The Miffiffippi is a very long river, being 
2550 miles in length, viz.— 

From its mouth to New Orleans - 100 miles. 

„ New Orleans to St Louis - 1200 „ 

„ St Louis to St Paul's, Minnefota 800 „ 

„ St Paul's to head of navigation 450 ,, 

Total 2550 miles. 

The Miffouri River, the mouth of which we faw at its confluence with 
the Miffiffippi, is likewife a very long river ; it takes its rife in the 
Rocky Mountains, in Wafhington territory, in the diredlion of Van- 
couver's Ifland, and is confiderably over 3000 miles in length. 

About noon we arrived at the city of St Louis, and at once 
drove to the Southern Hotel, where, on looking at the Strangers' 
Book, we found that fix of the " Ruffia contingent " had been about 
ten days ago. Having indulged in a bath and dined, we then drove 
out to " Shaw's Garden," a kind of botanical and public garden gifted 
to the citizens of St Louis by a Scotchman named Shaw, who is ftill 
living, and refides near the grounds. Afterwards we drove through 
fome of the chief ftreets of St Louis. The city is one of the principal 
manufafturing towns on the banks of the Mifilffippi, and contains a 
population of upwards of 300,000 inhabitants. It is not by any means 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 5 I 

fo fhowy a city as fome others in America, but the ftreets are wide Oct. 2. 
and tolerably well paved. There are many fine warehoufes and 
numerous public buildings in the form of univerfities, churches, chari- 
table inftitutions, hotels, public fchools, and libraries ; and the levee or 
water border on the banks of the Miffiffippi is convenient and fpacious, 
whilft the view of the town from the river is commanding. There are 
a number of parks and public fquares which are worth feeing, fuch 
as Hyde and Lafayette Parks, alfo the St Louis Parks, and the 
Miffouri Park of Fruits. But it would require many pages of my 
Diary to give you a full defcription of St Louis ; fuffice it to fay that 
the city has grown, and continues to grow, with great rapidity. A 
little more than a hundred years ago — namely, in 1764 — it contained 
only 120 perfons ; now the population is over 300,000! The ftreets 
of the city are planned on what is called the " Philadelphia Syflem," 
not being named after men or places, but numbered, as " Fifth 
Street," and " Tenth Street." One of the ftreets of this city is 
twelve miles long ; it is called the Grand Avenue, and runs parallel 
with the river ; it will in time, doubtlefs, form a boulevard, and is 
likely to be well ftudded with all kinds of public buildings and places 
of amufement and recreation. A great many tramway cars run along 
the ftreets, drawn ufually by very large fized mules, numbers of which 
animals are reared at Quincy as well as at St Louis, and they are 
ufed both for flow and quick work. Not having flept very well on 
board of the fteamboat, I retired to my bedroom at an early hour. 

After having breakfafted, we proceeded by the cars to the park or Oct. 3. 
fair grounds, about four miles diftant, 85 acres in extent, where the 
great annual St Louis Fair, as it is called, is held. In this park I found 
permanent ere61;ions for the various exhibitions of horfes, cattle, fiieep, 
pigs, and poultry, as alfo for agricultural implements and all kinds of 
manufaftured articles — namely, carriages, faddlery, bafket work, 
furs, cotton, tools in iron and fteel, and numerous other articles. 
There is a large amphitheatre on the ground which will com- 
fortably feat 40,000 perfons, befides a balcony 15 feet wide all 
round it at the back of the upper feat, and alfo a walking fpace 
below, both of which together afford f\anding room for an addi- 



52 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct- 3- tional 25,000 perfons, and in the centre there is a ring fully a quarter 
of a mile in circumference, where the horfes and mules are fhewn, 
whilft in the middle of this circle there is a fine ornamental ereftion, 
three ftoreys in height, called the "pagoda:" accefs to each ftorey 
being obtained by means of a fpiral ftaircafe ; one ftorey being for the 
band, another for the judges and their friends, the other being 
intended, I fuppofe, for the ladies. From the top of this pagoda, on 
which there is a flag-ftaff 190 feet in height, a capital bird's-eye view 
may be obtained of the fair and all taking part in it. There is another 
■ building for the exhibition of fruits, flowers, and plants. There is alfo 
the " Gallinarium," 30 feet in diameter and three ftoreys high, con- 
ftrufted chiefly of wood, and containing not lefs than ninety apart- 
ments, for the exhibition of poultry of all kinds. A Mufic Hall, as 
well as a Floral, Mechanical, and Fine Art Hall, add their attraflions 
to the place ; and all thefe ereflions, with one or two exceptions, are 
of wood, either whitewafhed or elaborately painted. At the Fair we 
faw what we were told was the largeft ox in the world, an animal 
weighing 4300 lbs. The park itfelf is finely wooded, and, among its 
other attractions, contains an ornamental flieet of water, with rockery 
and fummer houfe for a band of mufic ; alfo a great many fmall 
piflurefque Chinefe grottos or buildings which remain permanently, 
but belong to various exhibitors. There are alfo a great number of 
reftaurants and places for the fale of refrefhments — I fhould think 
about one hundred in all ; thefe are placed underneath the feats of 
the amphitheatre. Remained in the park, much interefted, for nearly 
three hours, after which we returned to our hotel, where we dined. 
There is being built at prefent at St Louis a bridge acrofs the Miffis- 
fippi which will conneft all the railways on each fide of the river 
(Illinois and Miffouri fides) in a grand union depot, and thus avoid 
the prefent fyftem of being conveyed acrofs by a fteamboat ferry. 
We left St Louis by omnibus, which croffes in a gigantic ferryboat for 
Eaft St Louis, a fmall town on the other fide of the Miffiffippi, where 
we took train to Evanfville, a town in the State of Indiana, 161 miles 
diflant. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 53 



FROM ST LOUIS TO THE MAMMOTH CAVE OF 
KENTUCKY. 

Left Eafl St Louis at 4.30, and after touching at various fhations, Oct. 3. 
fuch as Bellville, AlTiley, and Wabafh, we arrived at Evanfville, a town 
of 34,000 inhabitants, at midnight, and proceeded direft to the St Cloud 
Hotel. The country extending from St Louis to Evanfville is highly 
cultivated ; fplendid crops of Indian corn and wheat were noticeable 
on the route, alfo patches of tobacco and vineyards. I obferved as 
\\:ell feveral fmall coal pits by the fide of the railway, and heavy 
mules at work all along, and alfo noted at feveral places that large 
numbers of fwine were allowed to run about untended, afling as 
fcavengers, and all marked in fome way to enable their owners to 
know them. Notwithftanding the advanced period of the feafon, the 
mofquitoes are ftill exceedingly troublefome, and are the caufe of all 
the beds being furrounded with protefting curtains. I have nothing 
very particular to fay about Evanfville, except that it contains fome 
fine iron buildings, and, of courfe, the ufual ftreet cars are conflantly 
running to and fro. It is 188 miles diflant from Cairo, a port on the 
Miffiffippi, and 200 miles from Weft Port, a town in Kentucky up 
the river on the way to Cincinnati, Pittfburg, and other places. 

We left Evanfville to-day about half-paft two o'clock by fteam- Oct. 4. 
boat on the River Ohio for Owenfburg, a town fituated about fifty 
miles up the river. We enjoyed this fail exceedingly, the day being 
hot, but pleafant enough on the water and under fhade. At Evans- 
ville to-day the thermometer at five o'clock in the morning and in the 
fhade marked 65°, at twelve noon it was 79°, and for feveral days part 
the readings have been very fimilar. We paffed the towns and river 
landings of Newburg, ScufHeton, and Enterprize, after which we reached 
Owenfburg. The navigation of the Ohio is alfo very difficult, on ac- 
count of the fhallownefs of the water. Our fteamer was a very fmall 
boat of 200 tons burthen, driven by a pair of 12-inch cylinder engines, 
drawing only 16 inches of water, and had only one paddle-wheel, 
placed at the flern of the boat, which dipped about 12 inches into the 



54 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 4. river ! A conftant " heaving of the lead " is kept up in thefe fteam- 
boats, and every now and then may be heard the monotonous cry of 
" three feet fcant " or " three feet large," according to the depth of the 
water. The River Ohio divides the States of Indiana and Kentucky 
along the parts we were failing. About nine o'clock we arrived at our 
deftination, and found accommodation at the Planters' Hotel. We 
remained for one night at Owenfburg, which contains a population of 
10,000 perfons. There is fome fine land in the neighbourhood. 

Oct. 5. We left by train this forenoon at 1 1.20 for Stroud City, proceeding 

by Owenfburg and Ruffelville Railway, and from thence (it is a junc- 
tion), per Paducah and Elizabethtown Railway, to Rockport Station, 
at which we arrived about two o'clock P.M. On our way from Owens- 
burg to Stroud City we croffed Green River (a navigable ftream) feeing 
by the way a great many tobacco plantations and tobacco drying-houfes, 
as alfo large fields of corn. This branch line of railway having been 
only lately "built," as the Americans and Canadians term it, the trees 
cut down in the large plantations (the country being nearly all in tim- 
ber) are lying ufelefs on both fides of the line, and appear not to be 
of ufe, even for firewood ; it does not pay, in fa6l, to cut them up, as 
in this diftri6l 1 00 cubic feet of fawn wood can be purchafed for a 
dollar ! Dined at Rockport at an hotel near the Green River, where 
the railway croffes on a fwing bridge, admitting boats to pafs when 
needful. While here, heard at a public meeting an aniinated difcuffion 
by two orators on the all-abforbing topic of the forthcoming Prefiden- 
tial eleftion : one fpeaker was in favour of Horace Greeley, whilfl; 
the other advocated the claims of General Grant. As may be ex- 
pedted, at prefent there is much talk in political circles about the two 
candidates. At five o'clock we left Rockport in an open waggon 
drawn by two mules to vifit Mr Alexander Hendrie's farm, which is 
about feven miles diftant ; the road was very rough and the ride 
unpleafant, being through an immenfe foreft, and occupying fully 
three hours, during two of which we were in total darknefs, and how 
we ever managed to get through, twifting along a rough fort of 
track, I cannot yet underftand. At length we arrived at Mr Hendrie's 
about half-paft eight o'clock, where we experienced a mofl: hearty 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 55 

welcome, and, after having fupped, went to bed, very tired and fore Oct. 5. 
in our bones from the fliaking we had to endure during our rough 
ride. 

After breakfaft went out, along with Mr Hendrie and two of his Oct. 6. 
fons, to infpefl his farm, which is of confiderable extent. He has a 
fine crop of corn yet to cut. A fmall portion of a field of fugar cane 
had within the laft two days been cruflied and boiled by his fons, 
yielding three barrels of fyrup or molaffes, which we tafted and found 
excellent : the families here all ufe molaffes at their various meals. 
I examined two or three fmall plots of the tobacco plant growing on 
the farm, and alfo vifited our friend's tobacco drying-houfe, where the 
leaves, after being pulled, are dried and prepared for the market. In 
this trade there are dealers who vifit the various farms and purchafe 
the tobacco leaves. Saw a fmall quantity of cotton growing on this 
farm ; but this diftriift, I muft remark, is not a cotton-growing one 
generally. On the farm there are many fine trees growing — hickory, 
poplars, fycamore, elms, maple, fugar maple, walnut, black gum, fweet 
gum, oak, fafparus, and others. During our travels in the courfe of the 
laft two days we faw fome fine trees ftanding quite dead, and ready 
to be cut down for ufe as firewood ; this is done by cutting the bark 
off round the trunk, about three feet from the ground, and generally 
in one or two years the tree dies ; it is allowed, however, to ftand till 
convenient to remove it, greatly disfiguring the appearance of the 
lands. As ufual on all American farms, we found here a large number 
of pigs, which roam at large through the neighbouring forefts, feeding 
on acorns and other kinds of nuts and plants. Mr Hendrie alfo rears 
a large flock of geefe, which are regularly plucked every feven weeks 
to obtain their feathers, which are ufed for bedding. After being thus 
plucked, the feathers of the poor birds quickly grow again, thus afford- 
ing another " crop," if I may ufe the word ; and that is the reafon fo 
many flocks of geefe are kept throughout Canada and the States. Mr 
Hendrie has likewife a few fheep, fome cows, a pair of working bul- 
locks, two or three mules, and a few pairs of horfes. In the garden we 
faw growing, in the open air, grapes, peaches, apples, and pears, alfo 
tomatoes and other kitchen vegetables. The farm dwelling-houfe and 



$6 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 6. outhoufes are built of wood, and covered with thin boards cut from the 
Cyprus tree. Returned after my interefting infpeftion to the houfe 
about one o'clock, when we fat down to dinner, about which time it 
commenced to rain, caufing us to remain in the houfe during the 
remainder of the day, reading and converfmg under the verandah, 
which in this hot climate is a neceffary adjunft of all dwelling-houfes. 
During the afternoon one of the neighbouring farmers, a Mr Devenport, 
called ; in the courfe of converfation, which was chiefly about farming, 
he told us he had fully twenty acres of tobacco growing this feafon. 

Oct. 7. After breakfafi;, four horfes and mules being faddled, I fet off, along 

with the three brothers Hendrie, to vifit a village called " Paradife," 
three or four miles diftant, where fome coal and ironftone mines and 
blafi: furnaces are fituated.the woi-ks being called "Airdrie," and belong- 
ing to a Mr Alexander, proprietor of the eflate of Airdrie Houfe, near 
the town of Airdrie, in Scotland. They are ftanding idle at prefent, 
and have been fo for ten or eleven years paft. They are fituated 
alongfide Green River, and are leafed by General Beull, who was a 
General in the Northern Army during the late war. We called 
upon him at his houfe in the neighbourhood, and enjoyed a long chat. 
Returned in the evening, when I was prefented, by Mr A. Hendrie, 
with fpecimens of various plants growing on his farm, fuch as corn 
(Indian), cotton, tobacco, caftor oil plant, fugar cane feed, butter beans, 
pumpkin- feed, hickory nuts, and acorn nuts, as alfo a variety of 
gourds. 

Oct. 8. Took breakfafi, and, along with our luggage, placed in an open 

cart drawn by a pair of bullocks (myfelf and one of the Hendries 
being on horfeback), left for Rockport to catch the two o'clock train 
for a place called Glafgow Jun6lion, on our way to the Mammoth Cave 
of Kentucky. After a three hours' ride through the foreft we came . 
to Rockport, where, having learned that we would have to wait for 
fully an hour for the train, we dined. Left, by the Elizabethtown and 
Paducah Railway, at three o'clock. On our way we paffed the village 
of Hamilton, where there is a fmall colliery working, alfo Beaver- 
down, Horfe-Branch, Spring Lake, and Milnwood. Arrived at 7.30 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 57 

at Elizabethtown, where there is a junction, and remained for three Oct. S. 
hours, taking tea in the village, and about half-paft ten o'clock we 
took train, per Louifville, Nafliville, and Great Southern Railway, to 
Glafgow, where we arrived at 12.30, and engaged apartments at Major 
Proftor's Hotel, adjoining the ftation. 

Breakfafted this morning at half-paft fix, and at feven o'clock left "ct. 9. 
by a ftage or fpring waggon for the Mammoth Cave, at which, after 
a rough ride over a very ftony road, we arrived in the courfe of two 
hours. The country between Glafgow Junflion and the Mammoth 
Cave is the worft we have yet feen ; very bare where there is a clear- 
ance, and where there are trees they are ftunted and fmall, lots of 
fcrubwood abounding. After our arrival we drove at once to the hotel, 
and procuring tickets, as alfo a fuit of over-alls, and a coloured guide 
to conduct us, we proceeded to the Mammoth Cave by the fhort 
route, as it is called, and penetrating into the underground caverns 
for a diftance of about two miles, we infpefted the various parts 
named, fuch as the Cliffs of Kentucky River, the Church, Sulphur 
Vats, Gothic Gallery, Gothic Avenue, Poft Oak Pillar, Regifter- 
room. Star Chamber, Gothic Chapel, Grand Arch, Water Clock, 
Goin's Dome, Grand Coffin, which is 40 feet long, and compofed 
of one block of ftone. As you will readily believe, my vifit to thefe 
caves was a very hurried one, having only a few hours in which to 
view natural wonders that would require two or three days to fee. 
I have merely enumerated the names of fome of the fights which I 
faw, as it would take a volume to defcribe them at length. There is 
the Church, for inftance, a wonderful piece of natural architefture ; it 
is one immenfe apartment, 100 feet in diameter, with a feamlefs 
rocky roof 6^ feet over head. Then there is a grand pulpit or plat- 
form, as alfo a fpace for an organ. Divine fervice, I was told, has been 
more than once performed in this fo-called church. To give you an 
idea of the fize of the place, I may juft note down that the Gothic 
Avenue is two miles long, that the Audubon Avenue, fo named in 
honour, I prefume, of the great naturahft, is one mile in length; and it 
is faid that vifitors may, if they choofe, travel for a diftance of 200 miles 
in the various avenues and walks of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, 

I 



58 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 9. which is certainly one of the moll ftriking wonders of the New World. 
After returning to the Mammoth Cave Hotel, where we dined at three 
o'clock, we left immediately for Glafgow Jiin6lion, taking the train, 
by Louifville, Nafhville, and Great Southern Railway, for Louis- 
ville, 90 miles diftant, at which place we arrived at twelve o'clock P.M. 



FROM LOUISVILLE TO CINCINNATI. 

On arriving lafi: night we went to the Gait Houfe, but found we 
could not be accommodated, owing to the arrival of an excurfion party 
of about 500 gentlemen from Alabama, who had been invited by the 
Railway Company to vifit Louifville and affift at the opening of a 
new line of railway running from thence to Montgomery and other 
towns in Alabama. We therefore took apartments at another houfe 
called "Walker's Exchange." After breakfaft we went to fee the Louis- 
ville Expofition, which is held in a large new building ; we infpe6led 
various kinds of machinery in motion, manufaftures and goods of every 
defcription, and tafled a portion of a gigantic cheefe weighing 3300 
lbs., which was being fold on the fpot at the rate of one dollar for each 
3 lbs. I made a note of the dimenfions of this cheefe, and found it to 
be fix feet in diameter, by two feet eight inches deep. Saw fome good 
ftatuary, and a very pretty fountain, alfo a fine rockery with furround- 
ing water. The excurfion party took luncheon at one o'clock, mufic 
playing all the time. After leaving the Expofition we walked down 
to view the Ohio River, and to look at a railway bridge 800 feet 
in length. The navigation of the river is interrupted by what 
are called the Ohio Falls, oppofite Louifville. Ships avoid thefe 
by ufing a canal having three locks, through which they pafs in 
going up or down. Louifville is the chief city of Kentucky, and is 
moft agreeably fituated as to its topography. The city extends river- 
wards for about two miles, the courfe of the leading ftreets following 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 59 

the great water-way ; fome of thefe thoroughfares are excellent, being 
wide and well paved, and, for the moft part, fhaded with trees. There are 
a number of excellent public buildings and ereftions in Louifville, fuch 
as an Afylum for the Blind, male and female High Schools, a Univer- 
fity and Medical College, a Mafonic Temple, and other inftitutions. 
The Hiftorical Society has a good colleftion of books, illuftrative of the 
early hiftory of the State, and there is alfo a mercantile library, con- 
taining 7000 volumes. As an example of American enterprife, I may 
juft mention that the little canal — it is only two and a half miles long 
— which I have alluded to, coft in its conflruflion about a million 
dollars. The tobacco warehoufes of this city are quite a fight, 
Kentucky being, in the produftion of this article of commerce, only 
fecond to Virginia, and in the produce of Indian corn it takes rank 
as the third beft State. This day, although funny, was very cold 
in the fliade. 

Left Louifville this morning at fix o'clock, per train on the Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railway, for Spring Station. The 
morning was very cold and frofty, which aftonifhed us not a little. 
The railway, it is worth mentioning, runs through one of the ftreets of 
Louifville for about half a mile. On our way we paffed the flations of 
Anchorage, Pewce Valley, Lagrange (which is a junction flation), 
Jericho, Eminence, Chriftianfborg, and Bagdad, arriving at Frankfort, 
the capital of the State of Kentucky, and the feat of its Govern- 
ment, at 9.30. Stopping for a fliort time, we had a view of the State 
Houfe and Arfenai, alfo of the River Kentucky, on both fides of 
which the town is built. After leaving Frankfort we only paffed one 
ftation — Deckers — before we arrived, about ten o'clock, at Spring 
Station. The country from Louifville to this place is well culti- 
vated ; from the train we faw numerous fine crops of corn. Walked 
from Spring Station to Mr A. J. Alexander's eftate of Woodburn, in 
Woodford County, Kentucky, a farm of 3600 acres. Mr Alexander's 
houfe is about one mile from the ftation ; and finding both him and 
Mrs Alexander at home, we received a hearty welcome, and drove out 
in a waggonette to fee his various horfe and cattle breeding eftablifh- 
mcnts ; his prefcnt ftock is large, and confirts of — 



6o SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

8 1 thoroughbred mares. 
52 trotting do. 

5 thoroughbred ftaUions. 
4 trotting do. 

12 2-year old colts and fillies. 

14 I do. do. 

27 trotting foals. 

IJ thoroughbred foals. 

40 ponies with their foals, fonie of them of the Shetland breed. 

6 odd mares. 

30 farm horfes and mules. 

308 altogether. 

Mr Alexander has alfo a fine herd of fhorthorn cattle (60 or 70 in 
number). He grows excellent crops of corn, wheat, barley, oats, and 
flax, and has fine accommodation, in the matter of ftables and fheds, 
for the horfes, at various places on the farm, each under the charge of 
a white foreman, all the other men employed, numbering above feventy, 
being coloured, nearly the whole of whom had been Mr Alexander's 
flaves previous to the late war, after which they received their freedom. 
Mr Alexander and his brothers at one time owned 130 flaves, their 
value being eftimated at one hundred thoufand dollars. Thefe men, 
who are now quite free, receive, on an average, from 15 to 18 dollars 
per month as wages, in addition to their board ; a few coloured women 
are likewife employed at Woodburn as cooks and houfe fervants. The 
horfes, when in the fields pafturing, are fed on corn given them whole 
in the cob or pod. After an infpeftion of the ftock and various ftables, 
we returned to the manfion houfe and dined with Mr and Mrs Alex- 
ander ; a Mr and Mrs Walker and their daughter, from Chicago, were 
of the company (Mrs Walker is Mr Alexander's fifter). We were waited 
upon by coloured fervants, one of whom, with a large broom or loofe 
brufh, kept off the flies while we were dining. We each received from 
Mr Alexander three catalogues of his ftocks of thoroughbreds, trotting 
horfes, and cattle, and we were much aftoniflied at the very high prices 
which he told us he obtained for both horfes and cattle. Before leaving 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 6l' 

this interefting place, we examined a machine at work for rafping or uct. ii 
thrafhing Indian corn, and made another infpeftion of feme live flock in 
the fields. Our train for Lexington was timed for 6.40, but after our 
arrival at Spring Station we had to wait till half-paft ten o'clock 
before the train came forward, when we got aboard — "All aboard ! 
all aboard ! " being fhouted out in America by the condu6lor, inftead of 
as with us, " Take your feats!" and then the train moves off. The rail- 
way fyftem in fome parts of America, efpecially in remote and new 
places, is exceedingly primitive. The lines of rail are generally all fmgle 
lines, and the trains are far from being punftual. In fome other re- 
fpe6ls the carriages are fuperior to thofe of Great Britain, as in the 
American railway cars one has room to move about, and there is ufually 
a platform between the cars where the frefh air and ever-changing 
fcenery can be enjoyed. There is, generally fpeaking, only one clafs 
and one price on all American lines of railway ; but, of courfe, when 
the luxuries of fleeping berths and palace dining cars are required, 
they have to be paid for as " an extra." In all American and Canadian 
trains there are ftoves in cold weather, lavatories, and other conveni- 
ences, fo that ladies and children travel with greater comfort here 
than they can do in the Old Country. Reached Lexington at twelve 
o'clock P.M. 

On our arrival at Lexington laft night we put up at the Phcenix Oct. i 
Hotel, and at half-paft five o'clock this morning we were roufed for 
breakfaft, that we might be in time for the train leaving by the 
Kentucky Central Railway for a 99-miles journey to Cincinnati, 
a city which is defignated the " Queen City of the Weft," on our 
way to which the towns and ftations of Paris, Cynthiana, Falmouth, 
and Benton are paffed. Arrived at Covington, a town and ftation on 
the oppofite bank of the Ohio River from Cincinnati, where we pro- 
cured an omnibus to take us acrofs the water, by ferry boat, to 
the European Hotel. The country on the way from Lexington is finely 
wooded, the lands being hilly and undulating, but cultivated to the 
top, and well cleared of the original woods or forefts. We noted every 
here and there good crops of corn, with orchards occafionally. After 
reaching Cincinnati, and refrefliing ourfelves with a good ^\•afh, we 



62 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

dined, and then hired a carriage to drive us through the town, when 
we vifited Clifton Hill and Lincoln Park, where there is a very fine arti- 
ficial lake, with plenty of fwans and ducks upon it. Davidfon's Water 
Fountain in bronze is the largeft bronze fountain I can recolleft of 
having feen ; it is placed in a fquare in the town. Croffed the river 
on a fplendid fufpenfion iron bridge belonging to the Ohio and 
Miffiffippi Railway Company : this ftru6lure is extenfive, one of its 
fpans meafuring 418 feet clear ; the bridge, a fingle railway track with 
a carriage drive and footpaths on either fide, ftands 100 feet above high 
water mark. Cincinnati contains a population numbering 250,000. 
There are large iron works in full fwing, as well as numerous other indus- 
tries, including great houfes for the curing of pork. I faw many fteam 
veffels, barges, and other boats, all flat-bottomed on account of the 
fhallownefs of the river. The fheamboats have only one broad paddle, 
placed at the ftern ; fome of thefe run to Pittfburg, up the river, and alfo 
go down the river to Louifville and as far as Cairo, on the Miffiffippi. 
The city is yearly extending ; at prefent the river fhore is fully three 
miles long. There are fome fine ftreets in Cincinnati ; among others. 
Third, Fourth, Fifth, Si.xth, and Seventh Streets, all running parallel 
to the river, may be particularifed. Off" thefe ftreets, at right angles, 
run Vine, Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Walnut, and various others, 
named after trees and fruits. Cincinnati, although called " the Queen 
City of the Weft," is rather a fmoky city, from there being fo many 
public works in it, and does not therefore appear a defirable place 
to live in : the water is alfo very inferior ; what was offered us 
at the hotel was fo muddy that we preferred to drink Baff's London 
beer at 40 cents per pint (equal to is. 8d. of our money). There 
are numerous buildings and places worth feeing in Cincinnati. 
The Merchants' Exchange is a very handfome edifice, and among its 
other contents has a library of 23,000 volumes. A large obfervatory 
is alfo a feature of the Queen City ; it is in poffeflion of a mofl valu- 
able telefcope, made at Munich, which coft 10,000 dollars. Wine 
grapes ufed to be grown largely in the vineyards near the town, but 
of late, defpite the attention of the patient German cultivators, the 
crops have often failed ; there is one great wine ftore in the city, 
with ftowage for a million bottles of wine, but the proprietor has 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 63 

given up the cultivation of his own vines. The pork curing and 
packing houfes are well worth a vifit from thofe who are curious 
about fuch induftries. Having neceffarily lived, during my progrefs 
through Canada and the United States, in a number of hotels of 
varied powers of accommodation,' from the Fifth Avenue at New 
York down to provincial houfes with not a tenth part of the accom- 
modation of that palatial ftrufture, I may claim now to be fome- 
what of an authority on the hotel life of the New World. As already 
indicated, the chief American hotels are of large fize, and are conducted 
on a fyftematic plan of management. As a rule, no one ever thinks of 
afking to fee the proprietor or " landlord," as we would call him at 
home, and as for a " landlady," I fancy there is no fuch perfonage in all 
the New World. The clerk in American hotels is the chief official 
for confultation ; he decides which rooms you may occupy, and gives 
fuch information as you may defire as to routes to other towns, trains, 
fteamers, and hotels. The tables of all American hotels are liberally 
ferved, and at fome of them the variety of difhes is quite bewildering ; 
to find a dozen plats before you at breakfaft time is nothing unufual. 
I may juft quote from the European Hotel Reporter, a little flieet iffued 
daily by the company to whom that hotel belongs, a lifl of a few of 
the ftock diflies. In the fhape of vegetables, and thefe are feemingly 
always in great requeft, there are fquadi, lima beans, egg plant, ftewed 
tomatoes, and many kinds of potatoes, the price in the reftaurant de- 
partment being ten cents per difli. Eggs are done up in a variety 
of ways, and coft in the reftaurant a quarter of a dollar per difh. 
Oyfters are everywhere eaten throughout the States in enormous 
quantities ; but I do not think them fo good as our home oyfters. 
Meats of all kinds are dreffed in a multitude of different w^ays ; I 
counted thirty-fix entries of meats in the carte. Wines and liquors 
are expenfive ; a bottle of Clicquot's champagne cofting four dollars 
and a half. There are native American wines of various qualities to 
be had in some of the States : the beft of thefe are Concord, price 
a dollar and a quarter per quart bottle, and Cataivba, which cofts 
three quarters of a dollar for the fame meafure. As I have before 
told you, the waiters in American hotels are all coloured perfons, 
vulgarl}' called " niggers," and make excellent attendants. 



64 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 12. The following is an exa6l copy of a dinner bill of fare : — 

EUROPEAN HOTEL BILL OF FARE. 



DINNER. 

SATURDAY, October 12th 1872. 



FOR ROOM AND BOARD, THREE DOLLARS PER DA V. 



SOUP. 

Puree of Potatoes. 

FISH. 

Baked Trout, Port Wine Sauce. 

BOILED DISHES. 

Johnfton & Mofcher's Cured Ham, Corned Beef, with Cabbage, 

Leg of Mutton, Caper Sauce, Chicken with Salt Pork, Beef Tongues. 

ROAST DISHES. 
Beef, Veal, Chicken, Pork, Lamb, Saddle of Southdown Mutton. 

LARGE DISHES. 

Fricandeau of Veal, Larded, a la Jardiniere, Baked Pork and Beans. 

COLD DISHES. 

Beef Tongue, Roaft Mutton, Roast Lainb, Corned Beef, Ham. 

SIDE DISHES. 

Lamb Chops, Sautee, a la Soubife, Italian Maccaroni, Baked, a la Genoife. 

Rognons de Veau, Madeira Wine Sauce, Rice Croquettes, Flavoured with Vanilla. 

RELISHES. 
French Muftard, Worcefterfhire Sauce, Pickles, Halford Sauce, Cold Slaw. 

VEGETABLES. 

Boiled Parfnips, Hominy, Onions, Beets, Boiled Potatoes, Baked Potatoes. 

Mafhed Turnips, White Beans, Mafhed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes. 

PASTRY. 

Sponge Pudding, Wine Sauce, Custard Pie, Apple Pie, Prune Pie. 

DESSERT. 

Lemon Ice Cream, Lady Fingers, Small Pound Cakes, Golden Cakes, 

Afforted Cake, Charlotte Ruffe. 

FRUIT. 

Apples, Pears, Grapes. 

BUTTERMILK, Hoe Cake, COFFEE. 



Oysters in every Style, Porter-House Steaks, &^c.. Charged Extra. 
Pflrticular attention paid to Ladies' and Gentlemen's Ice Cream and Oyster Lunches. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 6$ 

Having finifhed up by taking tea at the hotel, we left in an omnibus 
for the 9.30 train to Pittfburg, a diftance of 313 miles; our fleeping 
car cofting us 2 dollars of extra fare. This day was bracing and dry, 
but fimilar to yefterday in being frofty in the morning. 



FROM CINCINNATI TO WASHINGTON. 

Turned out of our berths about feven o'clock this morning, and Oct. 13. 
having wafhed and dreffed, arrived at Denifon Station, where we 
breakfafted. During the night we had paffed Loveland, London, 
Columbus, Port Wafliington, and Newark Stations. After leaving 
Denifon we paffed Cadiz Junction and Mansfield, arriving at one 
o'clock P.M. at Pittfburg, where we took apartments (in which I have 
written the preceding fix or feven pages from my Note-book) at the 
Union Depot Hotel. The railway by which we came from Columbus 
is called the Pittfburg, Cincinnati, and St Louis Railway, and is alfo 
known as the " Pan-handle Route." This morning, on the way from 
Denifon to Pittfburg, we encountered a flight fliower of rain. The 
country we paffed over looks fplendid, containing many belts of planta- 
tion and well-cultivated fields, alfo fine valleys with hills or mounds, 
all cultivated or in healthy-looking young timber. The trees along 
the valleys and hills have a pi6lurefque appearance, as they are 
prefently fhedding their leaves. At Steubenville we obferved feveral 
iron works, collieries, and coke ovens ; the private railways at thefe 
places are all on the narrow gauge, about 3 feet 6 inches or thereby. 
Thick feams of coal, we obferved, were cropping out on either fide of 
the railway. Steubenville is 43 miles diftant from Pittfburg, and Port 
Wafhington, where an iron work is now being erefted by a joint-ftock 
company, the fhareholders being moftly Glafgow gentlemen, is 104 
miles from Pittfburg. We noticed that although nearly all the houfes 
were, as ufual, wooden ones, yet a few were built of red brick. On our 
way we alfo faw fome fields of fine winter wheat, from two to three 

K 



66 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 13. inches long in the blade, and we noticed pigs, cattle, and poultry in 
great ftore all along our route. This day being wet, we walked out 
only for about ten minutes. I took a hot bath before dinner, and after- 
wards we kept our hotel, writing, reading, and lounging. Retired to 
bed about half-pad ten o'clock, glad to have got my Diary brought 
forward to date. 

Oct. 14. Pittfburg is in the State of Pennfylvania, and is, geographically 

fpeaking, fituated at the head of the Ohio River, at the confluence of 
the Alleghany and the Monangahela. Around the city, which was 
laid out in 1765, the diftri6l is rich in mineral wealth of all kinds, and 
this circumftance has, of courfe, given a peculiar colouring to its 
trade, which, as regards glafs, coal, iron, and oil, is really of immenfe 
importance. After breakfaft we ftrolled through a few of the principal 
ftreets, which, truth compels me to fay, we found very dirty and badly 
kept, but the morning being very cold and wet, added, I darefay, to 
the bad appearance. Got into a ftreet car and drove acrofs the River 
Ohio to South Pittfburg and Birmingham. Both of thefe towns have 
hitherto been independent of Pittfburg as to local government, but 
after the expiry of this month they are all to be incorporated with 
Pittfburg, and placed under one local government. At South Pittfburg 
we afcended to the top of Mount Wafliington by an inclined plane 
laid at an angle of 35 degrees, its length being 640 feet, and its per- 
pendicular height 370 feet. We were drawn on a car, built to con- 
vey twenty paffengers, by means of a pair of coupled engines, with a 
large wire rope on each drum. At the fummit a fine view of Pittfburg 
on the oppofite fide of the river, and efpecially of the numerous pub- 
lic works already alluded to, which are fituated in the valleys on both 
fides of the united waters, can be enjoyed. The population of Pitts- 
burg, South Pittfburg, and Birmingham, is about 200,000. Pittfburg, 
as I have flated, is the main centre of mineral indufbry in the State of 
Pennfylvania ; a vaft number of oil wells are at work in various parts 
of the State, and at " Oil City " efpecially, about fifty miles from Pitts- 
burg, a very large bufinefs is done in the raifing and refining of oil. 
There are very few good buildings in Pittfburg ; the State Houfe and 
one or two churches being the fineft edifices we faw. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 6"/ 

About one o'clock P.M. we left by train for Wafhington City, Oct. 14. 
Diftrift of Columbia, by the Pennfylvania Central Railway, via Harris- 
burg and Baltimore, paffing Latrobe and Johnfton Stations ; at the 
latter may be feen the Cambria Iron Works (built alongfide the River 
Conoma) which were partially burned down two days ago. The fcenery 
between Pittfburg and Johnfton is very enjoyable. Laurelhill is efpeci- 
ally to be noted, from its being taftefully planted with young trees, in 
circular and varioufly formed clumps. This day was wet, as alfo very 
cold, and about four o'clock fnow began to fall, and continued falling for 
about an hour, the ground and trees being all covered. The Alleghany 
Mountains commence not far from Johnflon, and the railway continues 
to afcend for feveral miles till the fummit is reached ; luckily, although 
cold outfide, the cars were very comfortable infide, being heated by a 
ftove placed at the end. At the bafe of the Alleghany Mountains is 
fituated Altoona, where, about feven P.M., we dined, and about 12.30 
P.M. we arrived at Harrifburg, where we changed cars, part of our train 
going to Philadelphia and part to New York. Harrifburg is fituated 
on the fide of the river Sufquehana, which we croffed by a bridge, 
and at another part we ran alongfide of the water for feveral miles, 
arriving at Baltimore at half-paft two o'clock A.M. 

Came out of train and drove by omnibus through the town to the Oct. 15. 
Northern Central Railway Station, about three miles diftant, where 
we took train for Wafliington. Baltimore, from the view we had of it 
by moonlight, and it was full moon, looks a very clean, well laid out 
town, but as we expe6l to fee it again when returning from Richmond 
to Philadelphia, I need not fay more about it at prefent. We arrived 
at Wafhington, the political capital of America, about half-paft five 
o'clock A.M., obtaining apartments at the Arlington Hotel, where we 
were glad to go to bed for about four hours. We breakfafted about 
ten o'clock, and afterwards walked out to fee the city. Entering a 
flreet car, we were taken to the Capitol, a building which is ufed for 
the fame purpofes as our Britifli Houfes of Parliament. We made the 
tour of the principal apartments, which are the Rotunda, the Senate 
Chambers, the Old Hall of Reprefentatives, the Supreme Court Room, 
the Prefident's Room, the Speaker's Room, the Senate Lobby, and the 



68 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 15. Congreffional Library, and were much pleafed with what we faw. The 
walls, and generally the pillars, of thefe chambers are of poliflied 
marble. The two large wings of the main ftru6lure are wholly built of 
white marble, and the entire building being white, has a fine effe£l when 
feen from a diftance. We afcended, by a fpiral ftairway, to the top of 
the dome, a height of 241 feet above the main building, from which we 
obtained a fplendid view of the city and furrounding country. The two 
main doors of the centre building and eaft wing are of folid bronze, 
and have pi6lures or fcenes in "alto relievo," fimilar to the doors 
of the Maufoleum at Hamilton Palace. The Rogers bronze door is 
faid to be the fineft in the world ; it weighs 20,000 lbs., and contains 
eight panels, each reprefenting a different fcene. The Crawford bronze 
door is alfo very fine ; one half of the door, in four panels, reprefents 
" War," and the other half reprefents " Peace." In the Speaker's Room 
there is an exquifite marble figure of a female reprefenting " the Wefl;." 
There are a great many other works of art in the Capitol, including 
fome fplendid piftures in the large circular area under the dome. 
After leaving the Capitol, which is open to the public, without charge 
of any kind, from ten to three o'clock every day — an example that 
might well be followed at home — we proceeded by ftreet car to the 
Navy Yard, and, having procured an order at the office, were con- 
duced through fome portions of the yard where the workfhops are 
fituated, and into fome of which we entered, to gain an idea of what 
was going on. We then got into a fmall boat on the River Potomac, 
and were ferried acrofs by one of the failors to fome of the ves- 
fels ufed during the late war ; we firft boarded the war monitor 
named " Montank," which is fitted with a revolving turret, and carries 
two large guns, the turret being built all round with eleven plates 
of iron, each of which is fully an inch thick. The fliip is propelled by 
fcrews worked by fleam-engines placed apart from each other, and 
the outfide cafing of this veffel is compofed of five iron plates, each 
being an inch thick, the whole backed up with three feet of folid 
oak beams. When loaded, the " Montank " is only about two feet 
above water. We were afterwards taken on board a torpedo veffel 
named the " Hero," and went down and examined the engines. This 
veffel is built after the plan of the " Monitor," but has no turrets ; it is 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 69 

likewife covered over with iron, and not more than two feet above Oct. 15. 
the water when loaded. On both veffels we obferved the effects 
of cannon balls fired at Charlefton by the Confederates during the late 
war. The materials in the Navy Yard are removed, when required, by 
carriages or waggons drawn by bullocks. 

After breakfaft had a call from a Scotchman named Imrie, who Oct. 16. 
has been eighteen years in Wafliington, and to whom one of my 
travelling companions had a letter of introdu6tion. He accompanied 
us through the city fhewing us further obje6ls of intereft. Walked 
through Lafayette Square, and took particular notice of an equeftrian 
ftatue of General Jackfon, which is placed in the centre of the fquare ; 
this is a well-balanced work of art, the horfe with its rider being fup- 
ported wholly on the hind feet and hair above fetlock joint. We 
next proceeded to the White Houfe, as it is named, the official 
refidence of the Prefident of the United States. A company of 
Knights Templars being expefted to pafs, we took up our pofitions 
oppofite the front door, chiefly for the purpofe of feeing Prefident 
Grant ; and we did not require to wait long ere he came out to be 
faluted by the proceffion referred to. We ftood within fix yards of 
him during the time it was paffing, which occupied about ten minutes. 
Mr Grant appears a plain unaffuming gentleman. We afterwards 
went to the Treafury, and having procured an " order," were condufted 
through the greater portion of the building. The Treafury is very 
large, and partly built of granite ; the columns in front meafure 
about 25 feet by 3^ feet, and on entering the main door there are 
two flat granite blocks 16 feet fquare by 22 inches thick. In the 
vault-room I had two fmall parcels placed in my hands, one contain- 
ing bonds of the value of four million dollars, belonging to the National 
Bank of Commerce, New York ; the other parcel, value three millions 
and nine hundred thoufand dollars, belonged to a bank in Chicago. 
The value of the two parcels was one million five hundred and 
eighty thoufand pounds fterling. In thefe vaults, placed in pigeon- 
holes quite acceffible to the clerk, are a great many other parcels 
of bonds belonging to other banks in the United States, every 
bank having to depofit with the Treafurj' at Wafhington bonds to the 



70 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. i6. amount of its note iffue. In the apartment for iffuing bank notes, 
or " greenbacks," as they are called, none but females are employed. 
In the "redeemed" note department about 200 women are engaged ; 
and in the new bond department " ladies," as all women here are 
called, are alfo employed in the counting and afforting. Next we 
vifited the Army Medical Mufeum, a building of fome intereft, 
formerly a theatre— the theatre, in faft, in which the late Prefident 
Lincoln was fhot by Booth, the aftor ; and we were alfo fhewn 
the apartment in the houfe oppofite the theatre into which Lin- 
coln was carried, and in which he died. A vifit to the Patent Office 
next occupied our attention ; it is a very large building, containing, 
placed in glafs cafes, models of all forts of implements, machines, and 
tools, for which letters patent have been granted. Thefe models 
muft be depofited and approved of by a Board of Examiners before a 
patent is granted. I could have wifhed to prolong my ftay in the 
Patent Office, as I felt much interefted in the models which were fhewn 
to me. America is the home of invention, all kinds of labour-faving 
machinery, from a Hoe printing prefs to an apple-paring machine, being 
a neceflity in a great country with only a fparfe population. The Pofl- 
Office, which was next vifited by us, is a very fplendid building, nearly 
oppofite the Patent Office, built wholly of fine white marble. After- 
wards we walked through the public market, a very high, nicely-lighted, 
and well-ventilated flruflure, for the fale of butcher meat, vegetables, 
poultry (dead and alive), fruit, and other articles. We then vifited the 
Smithfonian Inftitution, a mufeum containing ftuffed animals, birds, 
minerals, and foffils ; afterwards proceeding to the Agricultural Hall, 
which contains famples of all kinds of feeds — among others cotton, 
flax, wheat, corn, and tobacco — alfo fpecimens of ufeful birds fluffed, 
fuch as turkeys, geefe, and common poultry. We examined feveral 
wheat famples weighing from 58 to 62 lbs. per bufhel, the produce per 
acre ranging from 40 to 46 bufiiels. We next viewed the monument to 
General Wafhington, which, however, is not yet built to above one-third 
of its intended height for want of funds, and it has been ftanding for 
feveral years part in this unfinifhed ftate, having attained, however, a 
height of about 170 feet. It is alfo built of fine white marble, in the 
form of a tapering fquare column, 75 feet fquare at bafe and gradually 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 7 I 

tapering (as intended) to a few feet at the top ; in the interior of the Oct. i6. 
column there will be a ftair to the fummit, containing panels in marble, 
granite, &c., furnifhed by the various American States, fome of which 
have been already received. Oppofite the great political capital, on 
the other fide of the River Potomac, is the fmall town of Alexandria, 
accefs to which is obtained by means of a very long bridge built 
acrofs the water ; and down the ftreani from Alexandria about two 
miles are the Heights of Arlington, where the houfe of General Robert 
Lee, late Confederate Commander-in-Chief, is fituated. We obtained 
a fine view of thefe heights and the General's houfe from the top of 
the dome of the Capitol. There is not very much fhipping on the 
Potomac River at Wafliington. The city, it is right to mention, is fitu- 
ated in a diftrift or tra6l of country about ten miles fquare called Colum- 
bia, and, properly fpeaking, is therefore not a State. The population of 
Wafliington is about 140,000, and the furrounding country is generally 
prettily wooded, and derives a very picfturefque appearance from its 
hills and dales ; the ground is well cultivated, and produces fine 
crops of various kinds. In the evening I went to a concert in Lin- 
coln Hall, given by Signor Mario, Madame Carlotta Patti, and other 
Italian fingers. On returning to the hotel I fent a letter home ; and 
having fettled our hotel bill, we left by train at eleven o'clock P.M. for 
Richmond, in the State of Virginia, diftant about 130 miles. On our 
way we paffed through Frederickfburg, where a great battle was fought 
during the late war between the Northern and Southern foldiers. 

About four o'clock A.M. we arrived at Richmond, in the State of Oct. 17. 
Virginia, ftill fondly known as the capital of the " Old Dominion," 
taking apartments at Ford's Hotel, where we laid down for neces- 
fary reft till about nine o'clock, after which, having breakfafted, 
we walked out and vifited firft the Capitol or State Houfe — a very 
inferior building, quite ready to be pulled down and rebuilt, faid to 
have been the firft State Houfe erefted in the United States. Went 
through the various apartments. In the Upper Houfe there are 
46 Senators, and in the Lower Houfe 136 Delegates who have 
feats. We obtained a fine view of Richmond and the furrounding 
country from the top of the building. In the park furrounding the 



72 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Capitol there is a fplendid equeftrian ftatue of Wafhington in folid 
bronze, weighing 42 tons, and at the bafe of the ftatue there are fix 
large-fized figures in bronze of Jefferfon, Marfliall, Lewis, Henry, Mafon, 
and Nelfon, which are placed at equal diftances around the monument, 
at a height of about 10 feet from the ground ; under thefe, again, 
on a wider bafe, are placed fix allegorical figures, alfo in bronze, repre- 
fenting the fubje6ls of Independence, Finance, Juftice, Colonial Times, 
Revolution, and Bill of Rights. There is alfo a ftatue in marble of 
George Wafhington in the Great Hall of the Capitol, containing the 
following affe6lionate infcription : — 

" The General Affembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have 
caufed this ftatue to be erefted as a monument of affe6tionate grati- 
tude to 

General Washington, 

who, uniting to the endowments of the Hero the virtues of the Patriot, 
and exerting both in eftablifhing the Liberties of his Country, has 
rendered his name dear to his Fellow-Citizens, and given the World 
an immortal example of true Glory. Done in the year of CHRIST 
One Thoufand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Eight, and in the year of 
the Commonwealth the Twelfth." 

Having taken a ftreet car, we drove about a mile out of the 
city to the Penitentiary or State Prifon, a fpacious building, with 
a fa9ade 300 feet long, and well known for its effeftive fyflem 
of difcipline. Afterwards walked to Holywood Cemetery, a grave- 
yard extending to 90 acres ; in this cemetery about 12,000 Con- 
federate foldiers have been buried, as alfo a great many officers, 
and there has been ere6ted to their memory a large column, com- 
pofed of rough granite blocks, 90 feet in height, 45 feet fquare 
at its bafe, and tapering to a point about 6 inches fquare at the 
top. We next vifited the City Water Works ; thefe confift of fix 
large forcing pumps driven by water-wheels, which fupply the city 
with water from the James River. This river takes its rife in the interior 
upwards of 200 miles above Richmond ; and at the falls, about fix 
miles from Richmond, a canal with a number of locks has been 
made, for the convenience of fliips. Below, near the centre of the 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. -Jl 

city, the James Harbour is well filled with (liipping from various parts 
of the world ; the water from thence to its entrance into the Bay of 
Chefapeake being pretty deep. Leaving the Water Works, we walked 
on for about a quarter of a mile to the Tredegar Iron Works, which 
are built between the canal above referred to and the river. The 
former being at a good elevation, advantage is taken of the canal water, 
which fupplies power to the whole machinery of the iron works, by 
means of large water-wheels. Thefe works turn out, befides malleable 
iron of all fizes, every kind of railway plant, cars, wheels, and fpikes, as 
well as iron girders. Richmond being celebrated for its large tobacco 
manufaftories, we vifited one of them, and were fhewn the procefs of 
rolling and making up tobacco cakes (commonly called " negrohead "). 
The State of Virginia grows a vaft quantity of tobacco, and almoft the 
whole of it is manufaftured at Richmond. The principal ftreets of the 
city are Main and Fifth Streets, but the newly laid off Pine Street is 
foon likely to cope with either. Richmond is a fine healthy town : 
being fituated at a confiderable elevation above the James River, 
there is an excellent fall for the drainage ; the fubfoil is alfo gravelly 
and dry. The population is 90,000. About 9.40 P.M. we left Rich- 
mond by train for Philadelphia, via Wafliington and Baltimore. We 
took out tickets dire6l to New York, being allowed to halt at Phila- 
delphia or any intervening place for as many days, or even weeks, as 
we pleafed. 

Arrived to-day at Wafliington Station (fecond time), and having 
driven from one depot to the other, we had to remain for nearly four 
hours waiting for connefting train to Philadelphia. In the interval we 
breakfafted at the ftation, obtaining another brief view of Wafhington 
City, and taking ftock of the people going. to their places of bufi- 
nefs along Pennfylvania Avenue, the principal ftreet, which leads 
to the Capitol. The other ftreets are generally very wide and com- 
modious, being well fhaded on each fide with trees : and, altogether, 
Wafliington cannot fail to obtain the admiration of the vifitor — it is 
a fplendid city. It is 40 miles from Baltimore, 138 miles from Phila- 
delphia, and 226 miles from New York. 



74 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 



FROM WASHINGTON TO NEW YORK BY 
PHILADELPHIA. 

Oct i8 We left Wafhington for the city of Philadelphia about 8 a.m. 

by the Pennfylvania Central Railway, and arrived at Baltimore 
about 9.30 A.M. The country between Wafhington and Baltimore is 
well cultivated. We faw feveral fields of corn cut and ready for 
" inning." The farmers, however, do not feem to be in a hurry to take 
in their crops, although they may be ripe and ready ; the climate 
being fo good, they generally wait till the viftual gets a touch of 
frofl ere they remove it from the fields. How different it is in "Auld 
Scotland" this feafon, where, as we have learned by letters from 
home, the weather has been very wet, and the crops greatly damaged by 
the exceffive rains ; a fingle day of funfhine being looked upon as 
a " bleffmg from on high." At Baltimore the railway runs through 
one of the bufinefs ftreets of the city, the cars being drawn indi- 
vidually through the town for about two miles, from one ftation to 
the other, by five horfes or mules all in line — no reins required. We 
faw feven or eight fets of five horfes or mules at different cars, which 
are regularly employed at this kind of work. A very extenfive trade 
is carried on in Baltimore, where the River Potomac begins to be 
navigable, and we faw a large quantity of fhipping in the various 
bafins and harbours of the city. There are feveral large iron works, 
faw-mills, fhipbuilding yards, befides other induflries. Altogether, 
Baltimore is a very thriving commercial city. It is fituated in the 
State of Maryland, and has a population of 260,000. I may juft men- 
tion here that one of the leading induftries of this State, which con- 
tains over 7,000,000 acres of land, is fifhing, efpecially for oyfters— no 
lefs than 600 veffels, each above 20 tons, and about 2000 fmall boats 
or canoes, being engaged in this one branch of the fifhery, requiring 
as many as 7000 men to work them. Oyfters from Baltimore are 
fent all over the United States, both frefh and pickled, large quanti- 
ties being alfo done up in hermetically-fealed cans. Having arrived at 
Philadelphia about two o'clock P.M., we went to the Continental 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 75 

Hotel, Chefnut Street, and having taken a hot bath and dhied, we Oct. iS. 
walked through a portion of the city. 

After breakfaft we proceeded to vifit the Government Mint, where Oct. 19. 
we faw old gold and filver being melted down, alfo new coins in gold, 
filver, nickel, and other compound metals, being made for circulation 
throughout the United States, fpecimens of which I purchafed. We 
then took a look of the Mafonic Hall, a very fine new building in 
granite. Vifited the State Houfe in Chefnut Street, walked through 
the Hall of Independence, where George Wafhington ufed to fit ; then 
went off to infpefl the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Calling at the 
office for an order of admittance, we were courteoufly received by one 
of the partners, Mr Edward W. Williams, by whom we were conduced 
over a portion of the place. A large bufinefs is done here in 
locomotive engine building ; Mr Williams telling us that the firm turns 
out forty new locomotives every month, and that they employ 2900 
men and boys, and have upwards of 220 fmiths' forges always em- 
ployed. It interefted me to know that there is no union among their 
men, every perfon being paid according to merit. The wages of 
operatives are, as a rule, pretty high throughout the States ; but when 
the purchafe power of money is taken into account, the mechanic in 
America is not, after all, fo much better off than a fimilar clafs in this 
country. Lodgings for refpe6lable working people coft about (in our 
money) £2, los. a-month for two rooms, which is ^30 a-year. The 
hours of labour for mechanics, as a general rule, are ten hours daily. 
The working day was at one time legalifed by Congrefs as eight hours 
a-day, but few reftrift themfelves to fuch hours. As to the purchafe 
power of money here — I am fpeaking of Pennfylvania — it is 70 per 
cent, in favour of Great Britain. A Philadelphia mechanic's family 
requires, in order to be comfortable, to expend upwards of £2, 1 3s. a- 
week ; but the expenditure of a Britifh workman would be lefs by a 
fum of 22s. The earnings of the American mechanic would be about 
^3, 5s. a-week, thofe of the Englifhman would range from 35s. to 40s.; 
but, allowing for the difference in the purchafing power of the money 
in the two countries, I can only make out that the artifan in America 
is better off than his brother of the " Old Country " b}' about 



•j6 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 19. half-a-crown a-wcek. I faw no coloured men at work in this foundry. 
The works are well laid out ; narrow ftreets dividing portions of the 
various buildings, fo that there is plenty of light and good venti- 
lation. The Water Works at Fairmont next attra6led our atten- 
tion. Thefe works are placed on the eafb bank of the River 
Schuylkill, which debouches into the Delaware about five miles 
farther down. There are eight water-wheels conftantly raifing the 
water into four refervoirs capable of containing altogether about 
twenty-feven millions gallons. The mill houfe, in which the wheels 
are at work, is of ftone, 288 feet long and 56 feet wide. On the top 
of the adjoining hill, on which the refervoirs are built, a fine view 
is obtained of Fairmont Park on the oppofite fide, as well as the 
park on the fame fide, of the river. Near the Water Works we hired 
a park carriage for a drive through the grounds, which confift of 
upwards of 1600 acres, including the water area of the River Schuylkill 
within its boundaries. We continued our drive up to George's Hill, 
where we had a fplendid view of Philadelphia in the diftance. We 
returned by the " Vifta Drive," which allowed us to obtain fome very 
fine views of wood and water — the river flowing immediately beneath. 
In the park are fome good monuments, one to George Wafhington being 
efpecially fine. We walked from the park to vifit Girard College, an 
educational infhitution which was founded by Stephen Girard, a native 
of France, who died in 1831, bequeathing two millions of dollars 
for the gratuitous inftruftion and fupport of deftitute orphans. This 
is a fplendid building, efpecially in its exterior ; the central or college 
building is 218 feet long, 160 feet in breadth, and 97 feet high, being, 
like numerous other public buildings in America, wholly built of 
marble ; there are 34 immenfe Corinthian marble pillars placed at 
regular diftances round the building, feven at each end, and ten at 
each fide, whilft at one end of the building there is a flight of very 
large marble fteps afcending to the firft floor. We infpefted fome of 
the fchoolrooms, and admired the great ftairway of marble with its 
fine large fupporting pillars. Afterwards we afcended to the roof 
of the building, which is alfo conftru6led of marble, in large 
blocks about four and a-half feet fquare and nearly fix inches thick, 
the joints being covered over by long narrow pieces of marble. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. "JJ 

reduced or bevelled to a ridge point. The roof being tolerably flat, Oct. 19. 
floping about i in 6 or 7, we could eafily walk along any part of 
it, enjoying the view of Philadelphia and the country beyond very 
much, the day being a very bright one. The city confumes a 
great deal of anthracite coal, and, confequently, the atmofphere is 
very clear and free from fmoke. Six other buildings, each 125 feet 
long by 52 feet in breadth, and three ftoreys high, furround the 
college — three on each fide. After returning to the city by means of 
the ftreet car, we walked down to the harbour at the Delaware end of 
Chefnut Street, and faw a large number of fliips of different kinds 
lying at the piers. The Inman line of fhips from Liverpool to New 
York and Philadelphia have their office in Chefnut Street. Some 
of the other public buildings and fquares of the city are worth men- 
tioning, as the Cuflom Houfe, the Poft Office, and the Univerfity. 
Philadelphia, as regards its area, is the largeft city in the United 
States, and in point of inhabitants is fecond only to New York, its 
prefent population being eftimated at fully 700,000 perfons. It is 
the chief city of the State of Pennfylvania — the population of the 
entire State being over three and a-half millions. The princi- 
pal flreets are Chefnut Street, Market Street, and Main Street. 
The greater portion of the ftreets are known by numbers ; No. i or 
Firft Street running parallel to the River Delaware, and fo on, the 
others croffing, as ufual (in other cities planned in the fame way), at 
right angles to thefe. The entire length of the city from north to fouth 
is 20 miles, and from eaft to weft 8 miles. Fourteenth Street, ufually 
called Broad Street, is very wide ; when fully completed it will 
extend in a ftraight line of equal breadth about 23 miles, and is the 
longeft ftreet in the city. One peculiarity about the ftreet cars here 
is that, in a great many of the ftreets, they are allowed to run only in 
one direftion, fo that if you defire to get to another ftreet, fay two or 
three " blocks " off, you are furnifhed with a transfer ticket to be 
handed to the next conduftor. In the wide ftreets are the ufual trees 
on each fide. The principal fquares are Wafhington Square, Indepen- 
dence Square, Franklin Square, and Jefiferfon Square. The chief 
buildings are the State Houfe or Independence Hall, the State 
Arfenal, the Cuftom Houfe, the Polytechnic College of Pennfylvania, 



78 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 19. the County Almfhoufe, the Philadelphia Library, the Athenaeum, the 
American Philofophical Society, and the Pennfylvania Academy of 
Fine Arts ; but there are many more public inftitutions, and to fee 
Philadelphia thoroughly the vifitor would require to fpend at leaft 
three or four days in the city. Between Baltimore and Philadelphia 
wepaffed Havre-de-Grace, Perryville, Delaware Junction, and Wilming- 
ton Stations. Having dined and paid our hotel bill, we left Phila- 
delphia for New York by train at 6.45 P.M. ; arriving at Jerfey City, 
State of Jerfey, about ten o'clock P.M. Croffmg the ferry, we found 
the ftage coach from the Fifth Avenue Hotel (on the other fide of the 
Hudfon), and reached that hoftelry about half-paft ten o'clock, where, 
Angularly enough, I got my former bedroom. No. 318. Supped and 
then to bed. 

Oct. 20. After breakfaft, had a call from Mr Wm. J. Turkington, and went 

out with him fight-feeing, going firft to St Stephen's Roman Catholic 
Church, where we heard fome very fine vocal and inftrumental mufic ; 
then walking to the Grand Union Railway Depot, along Park Ave- 
nue, we afterwards vifited the New York public market, fituated 
alongfide the river Hudfon, which is a remarkably well-flocked 
emporium. We next walked, and partly proceeded by ftreet car, to 
the Bofton Steamboat Wharf, where, moft luckily, we got a perfon in 
charge to take us on board of a very magnificent veffel, called the 
" Briftol," and exhibit to us the whole fhip, which is really fitted up 
in firft-clafs ftyle, all the wood work of the interior fittings being of 
polifhed mahogany ; all the berths, which are finely furnifhed, with 
marble bafins and water (laid on in each by gravitation), have gas- 
light fupplied, and gas is burned throughout the faloons, which are 
magnificently furnifhed, containing feveral pianos, befides accom- 
modation for a band of mufic. The line of fteamboats to which 
this veffel belongs is called the " Palace Steamboat Company," and, 
judging from what I saw, it is not incorrectly named. After dining 
at the hotel, we took ftreet car for Wall Street Ferry, after crofling 
which, about half-paft fix P.M., we went direft to Plymouth Church, 
in Brooklyn, where the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preaches, and for- 
tunately, obtaining a good feat, we heard an excellent difcourfe 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 79 

preached by that popular preacher from Romans, chap. viii. and 26th 
verfe. Mr Beecher's church is a very plain one, but large enough to 
hold an audience of 3000 perfons, and the feats are all eagerly taken 
up. The mufic is very fine, and the eloquence of the preacher being 
known far and wide, needs no comment from my pen. Returned to 
Fifth Avenue Hotel about ten o'clock p.m. 

After breakfaft, called upon Mr Rennie, whom we unluckily 
miffed, he having gone to call at our hotel ; ne.xt went to fee 
Mr William J. Turkington, at Meffrs Miner Brothers, and pro- 
ceeded with him to witnefs feme trotting races at Profpe6l Fair 
Grounds, about fix miles from Brooklyn. Never having feen any 
trotting races either at home or abroad, I fancied thefe races would 
be interefting, and they really were fo indeed. We faw fix or 
feven heats or races run by very faft trotting horfes. Time for each 
meafured mile as under — 

I ft heat, 2 minutes 233^ feconds. 

2nd „ 2 „ 21 „ 

3rd „ 2 „ 22^^ „ a dead heat. 

4th „ 2 „ 231^ 

Alfo another race rather (lower than the above, viz. : — 

I ft heat, 2 minutes 34^ feconds for one mile. 
2nd „ 2 „ 2i-H " » 

3rd „ 2 „ 36 „ „ 

After leaving the race grounds, drove into Brooklyn, and called 
on Mr and Mrs Turkington, where we remained for fome time and 
partook of refrefhments. As I gave you a little general fketch of this 
great city upon my arrival in it, I fhall not recur to its main features 
more than to fay that the ftir and buflle is fomething extraordinary, 
and the defire to pufli bufmefs exceffive. One particular I may note, 
and that is the extraordinary number of publications, both in the fhape 
of daily morning and evening newfpapers as well as weekly journals 
and periodicals of all kinds ; but this feature is not cunfincd to New 



8o SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

York — even the comparatively fmall towns throughout the States have 
their one or two daily papers and weekly journals as well, and thefe are 
well filled with advertifements ; everybody feems to advertife, and all 
forts of plans are adopted to gain publicity. Time-tables for rail- 
ways, omnibufes, and fteamboats, are given away gratuitoufly, the 
expenfe being largely recouped by means of the advertifements printed 
upon them. The circulation of fome of the New York newfpapers is 
extraordinary — a quarter of a million copies on certain occafions not 
being thought a wonderful fale. One curiofity of New York, which 
I forgot to mention on my arrival, may be here alluded to — I mean 
the "over-head" railway. In London (Europe) there is an under- 
ground line of raihs, but here we fee railway trains flying along at the 
level of the drawing-room windows ! — the ftreet traffic in fome of the 
thoroughfares being enormous, the over-head railway is one of the 
devices reforted to to relieve it. An underground railway, promoted 
by Mr Vanderbilt, from the Grand Union Depot to the City Hall, is 
now in courfe of conftru6lion, and will doubtlefs be of great utility. 

Had a call this morning from Mr J. Denniftoun, who had, by letter 
the night before, offered me the ufe of his carriage and pair. After 
arranging to meet him at Mr John Baird's office, I called upon Mr 
Rennie, fenior, whom I faw, and thanked for his attention in forward- 
ing my letters fo as to reach me in fafety at the various places where 
I fojourned. Afterwards I proceeded to Courtlandt Street, and faw 
Mr Charles Miner, a brother-in-law of Mr Turkington. Mr Turkington 
then went along with me to Mr Baird's, who, unluckily, was from 
home, being away in Canada ; but we were introduced to Mr Novaro, 
his partner, by Mr Denniftoun, with whom I remained a fhort time, 
afterwards going to Delmonico's reftaurant to take fome refrefliment. 
I concluded the day going about with Mr Turkington making various 
purchafes of whips, toys, Saratoga fans, and other little fouvenirs for 
my young folks. Afterwards my friend dined with me at the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, when I obtained his affiftance in packing my trunk, 
and about ten o'clock retired to bed. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 8 I 



THE VOYAGE HOME. 

Having breakfafted about feven o'clock, we left by ftage coach Oct. 23. 
belonging to the hotel at eight o'clock for the Cunard Wharf, New 
Jerfey City, the charge for conveying each perfon, including baggage, 
being two dollars. As foon as we got on board, I arranged as to 
my berth and feat in faloon, which is kept for me during the voyage, 
it not being etiquette to take any other feat than the one appointed. 
Turkington and his brother-in-law, Charles Miner, were at the 
pier to fay good-bye and fee us off, and we failed moft promptly 
at ten o'clock, the hour advertifed — the weather beautiful, fimilar 
indeed to that we had enjoyed for a long time paft. In failing down 
New York Bay, we had a fine view of Brooklyn on the left, and on 
the right New Jerfey City, with part of the State, alfo Staten Ifland 
and Sandy Hook, which is eighteen miles from New York. After 
the veffel had left the latter place and proceeded to fea a confiderable 
diftance, luncheon was ferved. We fat down to dinner at four o'clock, 
and took our tea about half-paft feven, as ufual in the Cunard fteamers. 

The morning rather foggy, light wind, blowing N.N.E. Out of Oct. 24. 
bed about half-paft feven o'clock, and had an hour's walk previous 
to taking breakfaft. I found three of thofe who came acrofs by the 
"Ruffia" on board the " Cuba." There are 130 paffengers, fo that the 
fhip is not fo crowded as the " Ruffia " was. Met on board a Mr Wm. 
Brown, from Craigie, near Perth, with whom we had made acquaint- 
ance when croffing over Lake Ontario to Niagara. Sailed up till twelve 
o'clock to-day 312 miles from Sandy Hook ; add eighteen miles from 
New York to Sandy Hook, making 330 miles in all. To-day was 
rather cold, there having been very little funfliine. About four o'clock 
P.M. the wind veered round to N.E. Faffed the day lounging, reading, 
and writing ; no ficknefs on board, fo far as I have heard, although 
fome of the paffengers did not appear at dinner. 

Came on deck about half-pafl feven, and found the morning beauti- Oct. 25. 
ful. " The fun flionc bright and clear," the wind being due caft, and, 

M 



82 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 25. therefore, right aliead. F"ound the failors taking the Ihip's reckoning, 
when it was announced that the fteamer was going at the rate of 121^ 
knots an hour ; up till twelve o'clock we had run 275 miles. Till 
fix o'clock P.M. the wind continued from the eaft, but it was not by 
any means chilly, the eaft wind on the open ocean not being fo cold 
as on land. Nothing of any particular intereft falls to be recorded 
to-day. 

Oct. 26. On deck, as ufual, about half-paft feven o'clock, and found the 

morning very funny and beautiful. Almoft no wind, what there is 
being from the N.W. The fails, although partly fet, are not helping 
us much, as they are flapping a good deal — the log, I am told, indi- 
cates that we are making thirteen knots an hour. 3.30 P.M. — All on 
deck lounging, walking, or reading ; almoft a calm ; diftance run up till 
twelve o'clock, 303 miles. A great many fea birds were flying aflern 
of our fliip all day long, and that is the only notable faft I can men- 
tion. In the evening the wind had veered round to due weft, and 
was therefore quite favourable, being right aflern of us. 

Oct. 27. A fine funny morning when I came aloft about eight o'clock. 

Wind right aflern or due wefl, but not blowing at a fpeed quicker 
than that of our fliip, and the fmoke from the funnel was therefore 
afcending perpendicularly. After breakfaft, and while I was on deck> 
we paffed within about three miles of a fleamboat bound from Bremen 
to New York ; the veffels faluted each other by raifing a flag. We alfo 
paffed a fmall boat floating in the ocean, bottom upwards ; it was 
thought by fome of us that the Captain fliould have afcertained its name 
or have brought it on board, as it might have belonged to fome fhip- 
wrecked veffel, and fo told us a tale. At 10.15 A.M. we affembled in 
the faloon for worfhip ; after prayer and the finging of a Pfalm, the 
mufic being led by the Captain of the " Cuba," we liftened to an 
excellent difcourfe from Pfalms xxxiv. 8 10, by a clergyman, who is 
a paffenger — the Rev. Mr. Ryan of London — and were all very much 
pleafed with the fervice, which lafled fully an hour. Speed of our 
fhip to-day about 13 knots an hour, the diftance failed being 309 
miles. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 83 

Much difturbed during the night by the boatfwain piping, and by Oct. 28. 
the noife of the failors finging and " chorufing" while arranging the 
fails — a flight gale from the north-weft having fprung up. I came on 
deck about eight o'clock, and found a ftiff breeze blowing from the 
weft, right aftern, thereby pufhing our fliip along — the log indicating 
a fpeed of 143^ knots an hour. Before going down to breakfaft I 
witneffed the gambols of a large fhoal of porpoifes, which accompanied 
the (hip for a few minutes ; it was a fine fight to fee them jumping 
from the top of a large wave right out of the water into the trough of 
the fea below. Very few at the breakfaft table. About ten o'clock 
we paffed a fteamfhip faid to be the "Minia," bound from London to 
New York. She was only about one mile diftant from us, but except 
the top of her funnel and mafts, was frequently quite out of fight, 
although we were ftanding on the upper or faloon deck — the difappear- 
ance, of courfe, being caufed by the immenfe waves rolling between the 
two fhips. To-day we faw feveral birds called " Stormy Petrels" or 
" Mother Carey's Chickens." Log indicates 14^ knots an hour; dis- 
tance failed to-day, 328 miles. 

Came on deck before breakfaft, not having had much fleep Oct. 29. 
(neither, indeed, had any of the paffengers) on account of the rolling 
of the fhip. Heard that a great many of the lady paffengers were fick. 
The wind changed to N.E. ; the log indicating 1 3 knots an hour 
as our fpeed. About noon we faw a large fteamfhip bound for New 
York, belonging to the National Steam Shipping Company. The 
diftance failed to-day is 320 miles. During the day we faw the mafts 
of another veffel about nine or ten miles diftant, that being nearly the 
extreme diftance one can fee around from on board a fhip at fea. 
The weather was rather cold to-day, but otherwife pleafant enough. 

Made my debut on deck to-day pretty early. A really fplendid Oct. 30. 
funny morning; wind from N.W. ; fhip failing 13^ knots an hour. 
There is a confiderable fwell on the ocean, and our (hip ftill rolls very 
much. The diftance failed to-day is 298 miles. We were on the 
outlook all day to fee fome fhip or other, but none hove in fight. I 
lay lounging on the faloon deck along with other gentlemen — Mr 



84 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Oct. 30. Cameron from Hamilton, Canada, Mr Brown, and others — for two or 
three hours this afternoon, enjoying the funfliine and light breeze. 
Nothing of any moment to put in my Diary to-day ; indeed, one day 
at fea is juft a repetition of the day before, and the precurfor of that 
which is to follow. Wind favourable all day, chiefly from N.W. 

Oct. 31. Strong funfliine this morning, with a fliarp breeze dire6l from the 

weft. Sails all fquare fet, and fhip failing 14 knots an hour, the 
diftance failed to-day being 328 miles, and, from calculations made, 
we are about 340 miles from Queenftown. After dinner we were all 
greatly amufed by the legerdemain tricks of Mr Maddicks, proprietor 
of the Court Journal, London. He had amufed fome of the young 
folks after dinner during the laft two or three days, but to-day he gave 
a fpecial entertainment, for both the old and young, which was very 
kind of him. 

Nov. I. Contrary to my ufual cuftom, I did not enjoy my ufual walk on deck 

before breakfaft this morning, on account of the ftormy weather. About 
breakfaft time (8.30) the coafl of Ireland appeared in fight, and fliortly 
afterwards we paffed the Faftnett Lighthoufe, 60 miles diftant from 
Queenftown ; wind blowing hard from the fouth, and the fhip failing 
at the rate of 13 knots an hour. Mounted to the faloon deck, where, 
along with feven or eight other gentlemen, partially flieltered by a 
piece of canvas placed along the upright rails, I remained during a 
very fevere ftorm of wind, rain, and hail, which lafted for about two 
hours, the wind being S.W. During the continuance of the ftorm 
three or four of us, notwithftanding the'height of the faloon deck, were 
waflied right off our feet and fwept along the floor, much to the 
amufement of thofe who were fortunately enabled to retain their 
upright pofition. I have met on board during the trip feveral mofl 
agreeable gentlemen — Mr M'Donald, pf Green & Sons, of Montreal ; 
Mr Cameron, of Hamilton, Canada Weft ; Mr William Brown, of 
Craigie, Perth ; Mr M'Naughton, of M'Naughton & Deans, Leith ; 
Hon. Mr Dorion, Member of the Canadian Legiflature ; Mr Finlay, a 
Scotchman fettled in New York ; Meffrs A. P. and S. J. Kelly, of 
Chicago, lumber merchants, and their wives and families, who are 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 85 

proceeding to Nice to fpend the winter. We arrived at Queenftown 
about half-paft two o'clock. A number of the paffengers — the Kellys, 
&c. — left us here per tugboat for Cork. Juft as the tug was ftarting I 
received a letter from Glafgow, to which I had not time to reply. We 
left the Cove of Cork, alias Queenftown, about half-paft three o'clock, 
the weather being rather ftormy. Diftance failed till twelve noon to- 
day, 318 miles. As we fhall land to-morrow at Liverpool, if all goes 
well, I muft take the prefent opportunity of faying how much we are 
all delighted with the Cunard Iteamers. As you are aware, I went 
out in the " RuITia," a magnificent veffel, with engines of 600 horfe- 
power, ably officered and carrying a furgeon ; and I came home in the 
" Cuba," an equally fplendid veffel, commanded by Captain Moodie. 
All the fleaming and failing appliances of thefe veffels are on a grand 
fcale, and the difcipline of the Cunard fliips is equal to that of Her 
]\Iajefly's navy. A moft liberal table is laid out four times a-day, and 
there is quite a little army of waiters or ftewards to attend on the 
paffengers, and I muft fay they perform their part to the general 
fatisfaflion of all who patronife the Cunard line. 

Arofe and breakfafted an hour earlier than ufual this morning ; 
the weather, I may record, was rather wet, although not fo ftormy as 
yefterday. Every one feems to be engaged in labelling luggage and 
exchanging cards or addreffes with newly formed friends or acquaint- 
ances. Early this morning a pilot came on board to condu6l our fhip 
to Liverpool. Diftance from Queenftown to Liverpool, 240 miles, but 
add diftance failed from twelve noon yefterday to Queenftown, 22 
miles, making the total 262 miles. Arrived in the Merfey at 
Liverpool about eleven o'clock; at which hour the "Ruffia," by 
which I failed to New York on 24th Auguft, paffed us, with, appa- 
rently, a full complement of paffengers. After a delay of nearly two 
hours, fpent partly in getting our luggage examined by the Cuftom- 
houfe officers, and partly in getting hauled into dock, we landed 
about one o'clock, and, having procured a cab, drove direfl to the 
London and North Weftern Hotel, Lime Street, where, as we were dis- 
appointed in our luggage not being forward in time, we had to wait 
for the 4.20 train to Glafgow. I arrived at Buchanan Street Station 



86 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

Nov. 2. fhortly after midnight, where, to my great joy, I found my wife and 
three eldefl children waiting to bid me welcome home. 



NOTE OF DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY LAND AND 
WATER IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 
FROM SEPT. 4TH TILL OCTOBER 23D, A PERIOD OF 
SEVEN WEEKS. 

On Railways. On Water. 

New York to Albany — 152 

Albany to Saratoga 35 

Saratoga to Caldwell at Lake George 30 

On Lake George from Caldwell to Tynadogra — 35 

From Lake George to Lake Champlain 4 

Lake Champlain to Roufe's Point — 106 

Roufe's Point to Montreal 50 

Montreal to Quebec — 150 

Quebec to Montreal 172 

Montreal to La Chine 8 

La Chine to Montreal, down the Rapids — 8 

Montreal to Ottawa 20 148 

Ottawa to Prefcott 35 

Prefcott to Toronto 239 

Toronto to Niagara Falls 7 35 

Niagara to Buffalo and back 50 

Do. to St. Catherine's 11 

St. Catherine's to Grimfby Station 16 

Grimfby to Hamilton 16 

Hamilton to London "J^ 

London to Detroit in 

Carryforward 880 634 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 87 

On Railways. On Water. 

Brought forward 880 634 

Detroit to Chicago. 284 

Chicago to Ouincy 263 

Quincy to Saint Louis (per Mirfiffippi River)... — 160 

Saint Louis to Evanfville 161 

Evanfville to Owenfburg (per Ohio River) — 50 

Owenfburg to Rockport 59 

Rockport to Hendrie's Farm and back 14 

Rockport to EHzabethtown jj 

Elizabethtown to Glafgow Jun6lion 49 

Glafgow Junction to Mammoth Cave (per 

ftage and back) 24 

Glafgow Jun6lion to Louifville gi 

Louifville to Lexington 94 

Lexington to Cincinnati via Conington 112 

Cincinnati to Pittfijurg 313 

Pittfburg to Baltimore 77'c? Harrifburg i'i,i 

Baltimore to Wafliington 40 

Wafhington to Richmond 130 

Richmond to Philadelphia 268 

Philadelphia to New York 90 

32S2 miles. 844 miles. 

ABSTRACT OF MILES. 

By railway and partly ftage 3282 

By water on lakes or rivers 844 

4126 
Add from Liverpool to New York and 

back 6200 



10,326 



To which add diflanccs driven fight-feeing at the various cities and 
places we vifited. 



SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 



UNITED STATES VISITED. 



Hudfon. 

St Lawrence. 

Ottawa. 

Niagara. 

Miffiffippi. 

Miffouri. 

Ohio. 

Green River. 

Kentucky River. 

Potomac. 

Delaware. 

James River. 

Schuylkill. 

Sufquehanna — 14. 



State of New York. 

Michigan. 

Illinois. 

Miffouri. 

Kentucky. 

Indiana. 

Ohio. 

Pennf}'lvania. 

Maryland. 

New Jerfey. 

Virginia. 
Diftrict of Columbia — 



Lake George. 

Champlain. 
Ontario. 
Erie. 

Michigan. 
St Clair— 6. 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 



CONCLUSION. 



The brief Prefatory Note at the commencement of this Diary- 
explains how it comes to be printed ; but I wifh to be allowed to fay, 
by way of " conclufion " to my travels, that it had long been a 
cherifhed intention of mine to vifit Canada and the United States of 
America. At any time during the laft ten years I was anxious to 
ftart, but from one caufe or other, generally fome unexpe6led bufmcfs 
arrangement of my own, or the failure to find a fuitable travelling 
companion ready to ftart at the fame time as myfelf, my intention 
could not be carried out till the autumn of the prefent year. 

As I have carefully entered every day's progrefs in the foregoing 
pages, I need not go over ground already well trodden. Of courfe 
thofe who receive the prefent " Souvenir " will fpeedily be aware 
that, fpeaking comparatively, I have vifited only a fmall portion of 
the New World. It was a fubjeft of regret to me that limited 
time would not permit me to crofs over from Chicago to California 
to fee the Pacific Ocean and the various fights by the way, fuch 
as the great Salt Lake, the city of Utah, the home of Mormonifm, 
and the Rocky Mountains, which lend fo much intereft to American 
travel. 

I claim to have been very induflrious during the feven weeks of 
my fojourn in the New World ; it only requires a perufal of the figures 
which I have gathered into a focus in the preceding two pages, as 
denoting the ground gone over, to fhow that. Now that I have been 
prevailed upon to print, I regret exceedingly that I did not take fuller 
notes during my progrefs, but, as ftated in another place, my Diary 
was originally intended for the perufal of my own family, and although 
it now appears in print, it is printed fubftantially in the fame form as 
it was fent home. 

America, as all readers know, is a country of great magnitude, 
many of its States occupying areas equal in extent to the kingdoms 

N 



90 SOUVENIR OF A TOUR IN 

we have at home, or on the Continent of Europe. Thus, three of 
the States which I vifited (Virginia, Ohio, and IlUnois), comprife a 
furface upwards of 34,000 fquare miles larger than the united area of 
Great Britain and Ireland. The State of Virginia, for example, is 
confiderably greater than England, and nearly as large as Scotland 
and Ireland put together, and the territory embraced in the State of 
Indiana is greater by far than Belgium and Holland combined, whilft 
the State of Ohio is bigger than the Kingdom of Portugal ! The 
Lakes and Rivers of the New World are, as might be expe6ted, of cor- 
refponding magnitude, Lake Superior being 400 miles in length, and 
averaging 80 miles in breadth, whilft the mighty Miffiffippi, " father of 
waters," runs, as I have elfewhere detailed, thoufands of miles before 
it finds a home in the deep bofom of the ocean. The United States, 
being fo large, embrace at one and the fame time the extremes of 
climatic variation : in the frigid north, while the fnow is fteadily falling, 
the vivifying fun in the fouth may be wakening the rofe into life, and 
transforming the fcenes around into gardens of tropical beauty and 
luxuriance! Is it to be wondered at, then, that the inhabitants of this 
mighty country are both proud and ambitious, or that they lay out 
cities vaft in extent, and abounding in ftreets and buildings outvie- 
ing in length and fize thofe of any other nation .'' The country is 
rich in educational inftitutions of all kinds — churches, fchools, and 
literary affociations, being exceedingly numerous throughout America. 
The fyftem of national education in the United States has been moft 
fuccefsful ; children are trained in knowledge and induftry, and I have 
feen few idle people either in Canada or the States, nor, fo far as I 
can charge my memory, was I ever folicited by a beggar for alms. 
As a home for the emigrant, the United States of America and the 
Dominion of Canada will afford room for a million or two of mecha- 
nics and labourers from other countries, there being in the rifing 
towns and rapidly extending villages work and wages for all, whilft in 
the far interior of thefe countries there is land fufficient for many 
thoufand farms. 

It will be obferved that I have confined myfelf in my Diary chiefly 
to the topography and induftrial features of the States vifited by 



THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 9 1 

myfelf and friends, not having taken time to pen difquifitions on the 
character of the American people. I might even now — not having 
forgotten what I faw or heard — interfperfe a few anecdotes of Ameri- 
can humour and peculiarity, but I prefer that this " Souvenir" fliould 
appear as the fimple record it was originally intended to be. There 
are, of courfe, numerous eccentric individuals to be met with in 
travelling through the States — indeed, one is fometimes bored with 
people trying to guefs other people's bufmefs, or " calculating " to 
extra6l information by forced queftions ; but there is no avoiding 
recognition of the reftlefs "go ahead" fpirit of the people, or that 
decided lack of the conventional which, to our forrow, governs us all 
fo much at home. 

In conclufion, let me fay that if a perufal of the preceding pages 
fhould induce any of my perfonal friends to go where I have gone, and 
the information as to prices and routes prove of ufe to them, I fliall 
confider that I have not printed in vain. 



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